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iss^ 


THE  CRIMINOLOGY  SERIES 

EDITED  BY   IV.    DOUGLAS  MORRISON,  M.A. 

Ill 


JUVENILE  OFFENDERS 


tbe  eritninclodv  Series* 

EDITED     BY    W .    DOUGLAS     MORRISON. 
Each,  i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

THE  FEMALE  OFFENDER.     By  Professor  C^lSAR 
LoMBROSO  and  William  Ferrero.     llhtstrated. 

"  Must  be  considered  a  very  valuable  addition  to  scientific  litera- 
ture. ...  It  is  not  alone  to  the  scientist  that  the  work  will  recom- 
mend itself.  The  humanitarian,  anxious  for  the  reform  of  the  habitual 
criminal,  will  find  in  its  pages  many  valuable  suggestions."— /Vj/Za- 
dtlphia  J  lines. 

"There  is  no  book  of  recent  issue  that  bears  such  important  rela- 
tion to  the  great  subject  of  criminology  as  this  book." — A'ew  Haven 
Leader. 

CRIMINAL  SOCIOLOGY.      By  Professor  E.  Ferri. 

"  The  book  must  be  considered  a  valuable — and  a  verj-  valuable — 
contribution  to  scientific  literature  ;  and  it  will  recommend  itself  to  a 
wider  circle  of  readers  than  the  specialists  in  criminal  sociology,  for  the 
humanitarian  will  find  in  its  pages  many  useful  suggestions  for  the 
proper  direction  of  his  energies." — Minneapolis  Tribune. 

"A.  most  excellent  and  instructive  work.  ...  It  will  well  repay 
perusal  by  all  who  have  dealings  of  any  nature  with  criminal  classes, 
and  is  of  great  importance  to  those  who  desire  to  inform  themselves  on 
what  is  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  age." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

OUR  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.     By  W.  Douglas 
Morrison,  author  of  "  Jews  under  the  Romans,"  etc. 

In  this  volume  Mr.  Morrison  deals  with  the  extent  and  character 
of  juvenile  crime.  He  shows  the  effect  of  sex  and  age  on  criminal 
tendencies,  and  describes  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  juvenile 
criminal  population.  He  discusses  the  physical  and  mental  character- 
istics of  the  juvenile  offender;  his  p.irental  condition,  his  social  condi- 
tion, his  economic  condition.  Finally,  he  deals  with  the  institutions 
at  present  in  existence  for  reclaiming  the  young  criminal,  and  the 
methods  which  are  the  most  likely  to  be  successful  in  attaining  this 
result.  Mr.  Morrison  has  a  vast  amount  of  personal  experience  be- 
hind him,  and  his  work  derives  additional  interest  from  the  fact  that 
he  is  dealing  with  a  subject  which  he  knows  at  first  hand. 

In  preparation. 
CRIME  A  SOCIAL  STUDY.     By  Professor  Joi  v. 


New  York  :  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


JUVENILE    OFFENDERS 


BY 

W.    DOUGLAS   MORRISON 

AUTHOR    OF 
CRIME    AND    ITS    CAUSES,    THE   JEWS    UNDER    THE    ROMANS,    ETC. 


fy^s 


r     cjr«irrri  f^-r 


LOS  Ai^GKUiJi. 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1897 


Authorized  Edition. 


V\e3 


PREFACE. 


I  HAVE  had  occasion  to  point  out  publicly  from 
time  to  time  that  one  of  the  formidable  problems 
confronting  civilised  communities  at  the  close  of 
the^  present  century  is  the  problem  of  habitual 
crime.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  to  every  serious 
student  of  criminal  questions,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  that  the  proportion  of  habitual  criminals  in 
the  criminal  population  is  steadily  on  the  increase 
and  was  never  so  high  as  it  is  now.  In  almost  every 
official  document  dealing  with  penal  administration 
this  unsatisfactory  state  of  things  is  both  admitted 
and  deplored.  In  France,  Germany,  and  Italy  the 
proportion  of  old  offenders  who  come  before  the 
criminal  courts  is  constantly  growing,  while  in  Eng- 
land matters  are  just  as  bad.  This  is  made  perfectly 
clear  by  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Iden- 
tification of  Habitual  Criminals.  "  From  a  table 
compiled  for  the  use  of  that  committee  it  appeared 
that  in  Lancashire,  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire, 
and  Staffordshire  about  70  per  cent,  of  the  prisoners 
tried  were  known  to  have  been  previously  convicted  ; 
in  Liverpool,  Birmingham,  and  Bradford,  79  per  cent. ; 


VI  PREFACE. 

and  in  Norfolk  and  Sufifolk,  6i  per  cent.  ;  while  in 
London  the  proportion  was  only  47  per  cent.  The 
committee  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  in  London 
the  proportion  of  habital  criminals  who  were  arrested 
but  escaped  detection  was  much  larger  than  in  other 
districts,  and  that,  speaking  generally,  a  certain  pro- 
portion of  old  offenders,  small  in  some  districts,  con- 
siderable in  others,  escape  identification  altogether." 
This  passage  is  a  quotation  from  the  revised  Criminal 
Returns  for  England  and  Wales,  and  more  than  justi- 
fies every  statement  which  it  has  fallen  to  me  to 
make  upon  the  subject.^ 

What  does  this  enormous  percentage  of  old 
offenders  among  the  criminal  population  mean?  It 
means  that,  as  far  as  the  bulk  of  the  criminal  popu- 
lation is  concerned,  penal  law  and  penal  administra- 
tion have  completely  broken  down.  The  supreme, 
if  not  the  only,  object  of  a  properly  constituted  penal 
system  is  to  prevent  the  offender  who  has  been  once 
convicted  from  repeating  the  offence.  If  a  penal 
system  fails  in  this  primary  and  fundamental  object 
in  three  cases  out  of  four — and  this  is  what  the  re- 
turns teach  us  is  happening  at  the  present  moment — 

'  Up  to  the  last  two  years  these  Criminal  Returns  were  in  a  very 
backward  and  unsatisfactory  condition.  The  appearance  of  an 
article  by  the  writer  in  the  columns  of  Mind  for  1892  led  to  their 
revision.  An  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  1894  also  led  to 
an  oiificial  inquiry  into  prison  administration.  At  the  termination 
of  this  inquiry  the  following  letter  was  addressed  to  me  by  one  of 
its  most  distinguished  members  :  "  Now  that  we  have  reported  I 
cannot  let  the  opportunity. pass  without  saying  how  deeply'  I  think, 
that  not  only  the  Prisons'  Committee,  but  the  whole  English  public, 
are  in  your  debt.  You  have  been  the  real  instrument  in  bringing 
about  what  I  hope  will  be  a  very  great  change  for  the  better." 


PREFACE.  Vll 

the  time  has  come  for  reconsidering  the  principles  on 
which  existing  penal  methods  are  based.  As  long 
as  these  methods  remain  in  their  present  condition 
of  inefficiency  the  community  will  have  to  endure 
the  loss,  disquietude,  and  danger  arising  from  the 
existence  in  its  midst  of  a  compact  and  formidable 
body  of  habitual  criminals  ;  it  will  have  to  go  on 
spending  millions  per  annum  in  protecting  itself 
against  them.  It  is  to  be  recollected  that  when  a 
penal  system  fails  to  prevent  the  offender  from  re- 
peating the  offence,  the  inevitable  result  is  that  a  vast 
and  expensive  body  of  police  is  required  to  protect 
society  against  him  when  he  is  at  liberty.  What  the 
habitual  criminal  costs  the  community  when  in  prison 
is  a  mere  trifle  to  what  he  costs  when  he  is  free  to 
roam  the  streets.  He  can  be  kept  in  prisons  for  four 
or  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  a  year  ;  when  at 
liberty  he  costs  in  police  protection  alone  between 
four  and  five  millions. 

In  the  present  volume  I  have  endeavoured  to  show 
how  habitual  crime  may  be  diminished  by  better 
methods  of  dealing  with  juvenile  offenders.  A  wide 
experience  of  the  criminal  population  convinces  me 
that  the  habitual  offender,  the  man  who  takes  to 
crime  as  a  trade,  as  a  rule  begins  young.  Unless 
a  man  has  acquired  criminal  habits  in  early  life  it 
is  comparatively  seldom  that  he  degenerates  into 
an  habitual  criminal.  The  criminal  population  may 
be  roughly  divided  into  two  classes :  the  habitual 
ofTcnder_and  the  occasional  offender.  There  is  a 
borderland  where  the  distinction  between  these  two 
classes  is  practically  obliterated.     But  in    the  main 


VIU  PREFACE. 

they  constitute  two  distinct  divisions  of  the  criminal 
population,  and  it  is  not  often  that  the  occasional 
criminal  degenerates  into  the  habitual  criminal  unless 
he  acquires  criminal  habits  in  early  youth.  As  a  rule 
the  fatal  transition  from  the  one  class  to  the  other 
takes  place  during  the  period  of  immaturity.  It 
/  follows  from  these  facts  that  one  of  the  most 
effective  methods  of  dealing  with  habitual  crime  is 
to  prevent  the  juvenile  offender  from  acquiring  con- 
firmed criminal  habits. 

How  is  this  to  be  accomplished  ?  This  question 
can  only  be  answered  after  an  inquiry  into  the  con- 
ditions which  produce  the  juvenile  delinquent.  Crime 
among  the  juvenile  population  is  produced  by  certain 
conditions,  and  all  attempts  at  dealing  with  it  is  only 
groping  in  the  dark  until  we  know  what  these  con- 
ditions are. 

In  accordance  with  this  view  I  have  devoted  the 

first  part  of  the  present  volume  to  an  examination  of 

the  conditions  which  produce  the  juvenile  offender. 

In  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  extent  of  juvenile  crime 

among  civilised  communities,  I  have  pointed  out  that 

the  problem  of  juvenile  crime  is  not  diminishing  in 

magnitude.     Whether  we  look  at  home  or  abroad, 

whether  we  consult  the  criminal  returns  of  the  Old 

World    or    the    New,   we    invariably   find    juvenile 

^Acpiminality  exhibiting  a  distinct  tendency  to  increase. 

/  It  is  a  problem  which  is  not  confined  to  any  single 

S  community  :    it  is   confronting  the  whole  family  of 

C  nations  ;    it  is  arising  out  of  conditions   which   are 

common  to  civilisation. 

The  upshot  of  this  preliminary  chapter  naturally 


PREFACE.  IX 

leads  us  to  ask  what  these   conditions   are.     These 
conditions    I    have    divided    into   two    fundamental 
classes :    individual  and  social.^    The  principal   indi- 
vidual conditions  are  the  sex,  the  age,  the  bodily  and 
mental  characteristics  of  the  juvenile  offender ;   the 
Cmost    important  social    conditions  are   parental   and 
Seconomic   circumstances.     Juvenile  crime  arises  out 
)of  the  adverse  individual  or  social  conditions  of  the 
juvenile  offender,  or  out  of  both  sets  of  conditions 
lacting   in  combination.     Such  is  the   conclusion    at 
/which  I   arrive  after  a  wide  survey  of  the  personal 
(and  social  circumstances  of  the  juvenile  delinquent 
population. 

After  arriving  at  the  principal  causes  which  pro- 
duce juvenile  delinquency,  the  next  and  most  obvious 
step  to  take  is  to  see  how  far  it  is  possible  to  minimise 
and  remove  these  causes.  It  is  a  commonplace  which 
hardly  requires  to  be  repeated,  that  before  we  can 
remove  an  effect  we  must  first  remove  its  cause.  In 
the  second  part  of  this  volume  I  have  endeavoured 
to  show  how  existing  methods  of  dealing  with 
juvenile  offenders  may  be  better  adapted  to  the 
purpose  of  diminishing  the  causes  which  produce 
juvenile  crime.  In  discussing  the  value  of  punitive 
methods  I  have  been  compelled  to  point  out  that 
these  methods,  although  to  a  certain  extent  inevitable, 
are  of  comparatively  little  service  as  instruments  of 
social  security.  The  worthlessness  of  purely  punitive 
methods  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  tendency  of 
these  methods  is  to  aggravate  and  intensify  the 
adverse  individual  and  social  conditions  which  turn 
the  juvenile  into  a  criminal.     It  follows  as  certainly 


X  PREFACE. 

as  night  follows  day  that  if  punitive  methods  are 
aggravating  the  conditions  which  make  a  youth  a 
criminal  the  application  of  these  methods,  instead  of 
doing  him  any  good,  will  add  force  and  volume 
to  his  criminal  tendencies  and  will  assist  in  trans- 
forming him  from  an  occasional  into  an  habitual 
criminal.  Society  must  aim  at  securing  the  maxi- 
mum of  determent  with  the  minimum  of  punishment. 

It  is  to  ameliorative  methods  of  treatment  that 
we  must  look  for  the  best  results  in  dealing  with 
juvenile  delinquency.  The  supreme  object  of  these 
methods  is  to  minimise,  or,  if  possible,  remove  the 
adverse  individual  and  social  conditions  out  of  which 
juvenile  crime  arises.  In  so  far  as  ameliorative 
methods  are  successful  in  taking  away  or  diminishing 
the  force  of  these  adverse  conditions,  in  so  far  they 
will  be  successful  in  diminishing  the  proportion 
of  juveniles  who  ultimately  harden  into  habitual 
criminals. 

Ameliorative  methods  of  dealing  with  the  indi- 
vidual offender  will  accomplish  much,  but  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  these  efforts  do  not  touch  the 
general  conditions  out  of  which  juvenile  crime  arises. 
These  general  conditions  are  the  unhappy  individual 
and  social  circumstances  in  which  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  juvenile  population  are  born  and 
have  to  live.  It  is  to  an  amelioration  of  the  adverse 
conditions  of  life  among  large  sections  of  the  juvenile 
population  that  we  must  look  for  a  mitigation  of  the 
problem  of  juvenile  crime.  So  long  as  great  num- 
bers of  the  general  juvenile  population  are  the  off- 


PREFACE.  XI 

spring  of  degenerate  and  degraded  parents,  and  have 
to  grow  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  moral  and  material 
wretchedness,  we  shall  always  have  a  high  percentage 
of  juvenile  crime.  It  is  in  these  wretched  and  de- 
generate conditions  of  existence  that  juvenile  delin- 
quency has  its  origin,  and  it  will  always  continue  to 
flourish  till  these  conditions  are  ameliorated. 

The  task  of  ameliorating  these  adverse  conditions 
is  one  which  devolves  on  the  forces  of  civilisation  in 
Church  and  State.  Hitherto  Christian  charity  has 
in  the  main  directed  its  beneficent  energies  towards 
the  alleviation  of  individual  miseries.  In  the  future 
its  efforts  must  be  more  and  more  directed  towards 
removing  the  causes  by  which  these  miseries  are 
produced.  It  is  when  Christian  charity  enters  upon 
this  great  task  that  it  is  fulfilling  its  highest  mission 
in  the  world, 

W.  D.  M. 

Wandsworth  Prison,  London. 
October,  1896. 


CONTENTS. 

PART  I. 

THE   CONDITIONS  OF  JUVENILE  CRIME. 

CHAPTER    I.  PAGE 

The  Extent  of  Juvenile  Crime        .        .        .        i 

General  observations  on  criminal  returns — Extent  of  crime 
only  approximately  known  —  The  most  comprehensive 
record  of  crime  is  cases  reported  to  the  police — Criminal 
returns  of  various  countries  :  Australian,  English,  French, 
Italian,  German — Value  of  criminal  returns  :  value  of 
cases  tried,  of  convictions,  of  reports  to  police — Exactitude 
of  criminal  returns  depends  on  attitude  of  population  to- 
wards the  criminal  law — Illustrations  of  this  principle  in 
Ireland,  United  States,  Italy — Movement  of  juvenile  crime 
in  civilised  communities  —  Growth  of  humane  feeling 
makes  it  difficult  to  estimate  the  tendencies  of  juvenile 
crime — Juvenile  crime  on  the  Continent — Juvenile  crime 
in  England — Relation  between  prison  population  and 
juvenile  crime — Effect  of  voluntary  homes  in  reducing 
prison  population — Latest  returns  relating  to  juvenile 
crim.e  in  England — Juvenile  crime  in  the  United  States. 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Distribution  of  Juvenile  Crime       .        .      i8 

International  distribution  of  juvenile  crime — Difficulties  of 
international  comparison  —  International  distribution  of 
crimes  against  the  person — Crime  in  the  north  and  south 
of  Europe — Homicide  among  juveniles  in  England  and 
the  United  States — Causes  of  homicide  in  the  United 
States — Homicide  among  the  coloured  population  of  the 

xiii 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

United  States — General  conditions  determining  the  distri- 
bution of  homicide — Local  distribution  of  juvenile  crime — 
Unevenness  in  the  local  distribution  of  juvenile  crime^ 
The  distribution  of  juvenile  crime  runs  parallel  with  the 
distribution  of  crime  in  general — Juvenile  and  adult  crime 
run  together,  as  both  proceed  from  the  same  conditions — 
Density  of  population  and  crime — Effects  of  a  dense  popu- 
lation in  producing  crime — The  solitary  dweller  in  large 
cities — The  struggle  for  existence  in  large  cities— The 
temptation  to  cupidity  in  large  cities — Effect  of  decentrali- 
sation of  industry  in  diminishing  crime — Local  distribu- 
tion of  pauperism  and  of  crime — Least  crime  where  there 
is  most  pauperism— Poor  law  administration  and  crime — 
Economic  conditions  and  crime — General  conclusions. 

CHAPTER   in. 

Sex  and  Juvenile  Crime 41 

Necessity  for  studying  the  conditions  which  produce  crime 
— Why  penal  laws  fail — Conditions  which  produce  crime 
of  two  kinds  :  individual  and  social — Individual  conditions 
• — The  effect  of  sex  on  crime — Relation  between  male  and 
female  crime  among  juveniles  under  sixteen — Among 
juveniles  under  twenty-one — Among  juveniles  in  reforma- 
tories— Among  juveniles  in  industrial  schools — Sex  and 
juvenile  crime  in  the  United  Slates — Causes  of  the  unequal 
distribution  of  crime  among  the  sexes  :  I.  The  law  more 
lenient  to  females  than  to  males  ;  2.  Social  and  economic 
conditions  of  the  sexes  differ  ;  3.  Biological  conditions  of 
the  sexes  differ — Effect  of  sex  on  the  nature  of  crime — The 
character  of  female  offenders — The  offence  as  an  index  of 
the  character  of  the  offender — The  habit  of  offending  as 
an  index  of  character — Value  of  knowing  previous  cha- 
racter in  dealing  with  juveniles — Summary  of  conclusions. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Age  and  Juvenile  Crime  •        •        •        •      57 

Effect  of  immaturity  on  crime — The  evolution  of  crime 
follows  the  evolution  of  the  organism — Crime  in  childhood 
— Crime  in  maturity — The  most  criminal  age — Age  and 
crime  in  industrial  schools — In  reformatory  schools — 
Nature  of  crime  determined  by  age  of  the  offender — 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

Nature  of  crime  among  industrial  school  children — Nature 
of  crime  among  the  reformatory  school  population — 
Nature  of  juvenile  crime  before  the  criminal  courts — Effect 
of  age  on  the  number  and  nature  of  summarj'  offences — 
Drunkenness  among  juveniles — Relation  between  intem- 
perance and  crime — Intemperate  parents  and  criminal 
children — Drunkenness  among  the  parents  of  New  York 
reformatory  inmates — Habitual  crime  among  the  young — 
Previous  convictions  of  reformatory  school  children — 
^^"      Summary  of  chapter. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Physical  Condition  of  Juvenile  Offenders      84 

Official  reports  on  the  physical  condition  of  delinquent 
juveniles — Death  and  mortal  illness  rate  in  juvenile  insti- 
tutions— Mortality  in  industrial  schools — Death  rate  among 
boys — Mortal  illness  rate — Death  rate  of  industrial  school 
girls — Mortal  illness  rate — Difference  in  the  death  rate 
among  boys  and  girls  in  industrial  schools — Rejections  on 
the  ground  of  disease  —  Proportion  of  children  in  in- 
dustrial schools  descended  from  short-lived  parents — 
Stature  of  industrial  school  children — Weight  of  industrial 
school  children — Dr.  Warner's  inquiries  as  to  industrial 
school  children — Conclusions  as  to  physical  condition  of 
industrial  school  children — Physical  condition  of  reforma- 
tory school  children — Death  and  illness  rates — Ratio  of 
orphans  —  Physical  condition  of  juvenile  prisoners  — 
Physical  inferiority  as  a  cause  of  crime. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Mental  Condition  of  Juvenile  Offenders     103 

Difficulties  of  the  subject — Methods  of  inquiry — Relation 
between  physical  and  mental  condition — Connection  be- 
tween bodily  and  mental  degeneration — Mental  heredity 
of  juvenile  offenders — Mental  condition  of  parents  of 
juvenile  offenders — JNIental  acquirements  of  juvenile 
offenders — Parental  control  of  juvenile  offenders — Effect 
of  adverse  circumstances  on  character — Mental  surround- 
ings of  juvenile  offenders  —  Mental  characteristics  of 
juvenile  offenders. 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VII. 

PAGE 

The  Parental  Condition  of  Juvenile  Offenders    119 

Heredity  and  surroundings — Influence  of  imitation — In- 
fluence of  the  family— Illegitimacy — Illegitimates  in  in- 
dustrial school  population — Mortality  among  illegitimate 
children  —  Illegitimates  in  reformatory  schools — Social 
effect  of  illegitimacy — Relations  between  illegitimacy  and 
crime — Illegitimacy  is  lowest  where  crime  is  highest — 
Relation  between  density  of  population  and  illegitimacy — 
Relation  between  density  of  population  and  crime — Rela- 
tion between  illegitimacy  and  crime — Relation  between 
pauperism  and  illegitimacy — Causes  of  this  relation — Re- 
lation between  orphanhood  and  juvenile  crime — Juvenile 
offenders  without  father  and  mother— Small  percentage  of 
totally  orphaned  children  in  industrial  schools — Juvenile 
offenders  who  have  lost  their  fathers — The  mbthers  of 
fatherless  children  —  Motherless  children  —  Motherless 
children  in  industrial  schools — More  motherless  than 
fatherless  children  in  industrial  schools — Causes  of  this 
disparity — Deserted  children  among  juvenile  offenders — 
Desertion  by  the  father  :  by  the  mother — The  treatment 
of  deserted  children — Children  of  criminal  parentage — 
Parental  condition  of  reformatory  school  children  and 
juvenile  prisoners — Effect  of  removing  adverse  parental 
conditions  in  reducing  juvenile  crime — Juvenile  offenders 
with  both  parents  alive — Character  of  the  parents. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Economic  Condition  of  Juvenile  Offenders     153 

Economic  condition  of  orphaned  and  deserted  children — 
Economic  condition  of  illegitimate  and  partially  orphaned 
children — Children  dependent  on  their  mothers  only — 
Economic  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  with  both 
parents  alive — Contributions  of  parents  to  maintenance 
of  juvenile  offenders — Economic  condition  of  juvenile 
prisoners — Juvenile  prisoners  without  homes — Municipal 
homes  for  homeless  boys — Juveniles  in  large  cities — Occu- 
pations of  juvenile  offenders — Relation  between  occupa- 
tion and  crime — Relation  between  unskilled  labour  and 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

PAGE 


crime — Unskilled  labourers  and  the  criminal  law — The 
nature  of  employment  and  crime — Want  of  employment 
and  crime — Industrial  inefficiency  of  the  criminal  popula- 
tion— Recapitulation. 


PART   II. 

THE   TREATMENT  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME. 
CHAPTER   IX. 

Admonition 179 

Principle  determining  repressive  methods — Classification 
of  actual  repressive  methods — The  selection  of  the  proper 
method  in  each  individual  case — The  trial  of  juveniles — 
The  individual  and  social  circumstances  of  the  offender 
must  be  considered  as  well  as  the  offence — The  legal 
defence  of  children  in  France  and  Belgium — Trial  of 
juveniles  in  Belgium — Trial  of  children  in  Michigan — 
School  board  agents  and  juvenile  offenders — Work  of 
these  agents  in  Liverpool  —  English  criminal  courts  — 
Admonition — Admonition  an  ancient  custom — Admoni- 
tion in  England — Admonition  alone — Admonition  and 
conviction — The  Massachusetts  system  of  probation — 
Value  of  this  system — The  probation  system  in  England, 
the  Continent,  and  the  Colonies — The  Belgian  system — 
Results  of  the  system. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Fining 195 

Value  of  fining — Increase  of  fining — Objection  to  fining 
juveniles — Imprisonment  as  an  alternative  to  fining  — 
Circumstances  to  be  considered  in  fining  juveniles — Pay- 
ment of  the  fine  by  instalments — Value  of  this  method  in 
preventing  imprisonment — Hardships  of  existing  system 
of  fining — Remedies  for  existing  system— Proposals  of  the 
Scotch  committee — Illustration  of  hardships  of  existing 
system — Increased  elasticity  of  the  criminal  law  would 
2 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

reduce  the  prison  population  and  diminish  expenditure  on 
crime — Compulsory  labour  without  imprisonment — This 
principle  in  operation  in  day  industrial  schools. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Corporal   Punishment 210 

Prevalence  of  corporal  punishment — The  punishment  of 
death — The  death  penalty  in  the  case  of  juveniles — Flog- 
ging and  whipping — Whipping  in  continental  penal  codes 
—  Whipping  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the 
Colonies  —  Balance  of  international  opinion  hostile  to 
whipping — Opinion  in  England  on  corporal  punishment 
— Opinion  in  Scotland — Whipping  as  an  alternative  to 
fining — Methods  of  inflicting  whipping  in  Scotland — 
Imprisonment  or  whipping  for  girls — Opinions  adverse  to 
whipping — Whipping  or  imprisonment — Conclusion. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Imprisonment 222 

Punishments  involving  loss  of  liberty — Slavery — Banish- 
ment— Banishment  in  modern  penal  codes — Local  banish- 
ment in  France  and  Italy — Transportation  in  Great  Britain 
— Interdiction — Imprisonment — Imprisonment  in  antiquity 
^Imprisonment  in  the  Middle  Ages — Imprisonment  arose 
as  a  reaction  against  more  severe  punishments — Houses 
of  correction  for  petty  offenders — Treatment  of  offenders 
in  houses  of  correction — Houses  of  correction  used  for 
serious  offenders — The  modern  prison  based  on  the  ancient 
monastery — The  cellular  system — Filippo  Franci,  Pope 
Clement  XI.,  Vilain,  Benjamin  Franklin  —  Continuous 
solitude — The  Pennsylvanian  system — The  Auburn  system 
— The  progressive  system — Archbishop  W^hately — Captain 
Maconochie — Prison  life  hinders  the  working  of  the  pro- 
gressive system — Prisons  in  disrepute — Causes  of  this  : 
recidivism  —  Old  offenders  —  Short  sentences  and  old 
offenders — Improved  methods  of  detention— Substitutes 
for  imprisonment — The  reaction  against  imprisonment  as 
seen  in  the  treatment  of  juvenile  offenders — Effect  of  im- 
prisonment  on  the  young — Age   at  which   children  are 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

PAGE 

liable  to  imprisonment — Age  of  penal  responsibility  in 
continental  criminal  codes — Age  of  penal  responsibility 
in  English  law — Committal  of  children  to  prison  before 
trial — Detention  of  children  before  trial — The  police  cells 
— Police-court  missions — Detention  in  the  workhouse — 
— Children  after  conviction — Sir  J.  Stephen  on  juvenile 
responsibility — A  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong  is  not  an 
adequate  test  of  penal  responsibilit}' — Prison  treatment  of 
juveniles — Prison  dietary— Pi^i son  often  the  final  stage  of 
a  series  of  privations — The  discharged  prisoner — Prison 
discipline  should  be  synonj-mous  with  industrial  discipline 
— The  prison  cell — Its  affects  on  the  mind — Short  sentences 
and  industrial  occupations — The  juvenile  prisoner's  rela- 
tions with  the  outside  world — Prisons  not  constructed  for 
juveniles — The  supervision  of  imprisoned  juveniles — The 
liberation  of  juvenile  offenders — The  preparations  for 
liberty — Conditional  liberation. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Corrective   Institutions 268 

Crime  cannot  be  suppressed  by  intimidation  —  The 
certainty  of  punishment  does  not  suppress  crime — The 
experience  of  punishment  does  not  deter — Why  punish- 
ment is  ineffective — Punishment  does  not  remove  the  con- 
ditions which  produce  crime — The  ameliorative  method 
of  dealing  with  juvenile  crime — The  principle  on  which 
it  rests — The  practical  application  of  the  principle  by 
voluntary  societies — The  practical  application  of  educative 
methods  by  the  State  —  State  institutions  for  juvenile 
offenders  in  Great  Britain — Population  of  these  institutions 
— Cost  of  juvenile  institutions — Effect  on  crime  of  institu- 
tions for  juvenile  offenders — Prison  population — Committal 
to  prison — Cases  of  Scotland  and  the  United  States — The 
increase  or  decrease  of  crime  is  not  entirely  dependent 
on  the  juvenile  population — Large  cities  produce  crime — 
Economic  vicissitudes  produce  it — Crime  may  increase  in 
spite  of  institutions  for  juvenile  offenders  —  How  to 
measure  the  worth  of  juvenile  institutions — Percentage  of 
inmates  who  do  well  in  after-life — Reconviction  the  test 
of  well-doing — Value  of  the  returns  relating  to  reconvic- 
tions— Value  of  juvenile  institutions — Corrective  institutions 


XX  CONTENTS. 

a  necessity — Cases  for  committal  to  these  institutions — 
The  committal  of  first  offenders^The  committal  of  young 
children — Committal  of  children  to  day  industrial  schools 
and  truant  schools — Cases  for  day  industrial  schools — 
Training  in  day  industrial  schools — Truant  schools — The 
object  of  truant  schools — Dull  and  defective  children — 
Treatment  of  children  in  truant  schools — Individualisation 
in  truant  schools — Punishment  in  truant  schools — The 
treatment  of  juvenile  offenders  over  sixteen  in  England — 
In  the  United  States— Dr.  Appelius  and  Professor  Stoos 
on  the  treatment  of  offenders  under  eighteen — The  age  of 
maturity — Maturity  and  intelligence — Age  of  admission  to 
corrective  institutions — Report  of  the  Prisons  Committee 
on  the  subject — Classification  of  corrective  institutions — 
Classification  in  Great  Britain — Classification  according  to 
age — Children  of  different  ages  subjected  to  too  uniform 
treatment — Classification  according  to  offence — Difficulties 
of  classification — A  proper  system  of  classification — The 
supreme  authority  over  dependent  and  delinquent  children 
should  be  the  Education  Department — Classification  of 
institutions  must  be  supplemented  by  individualisation  of 
inmates — The  size  of  corrective  institutions — Small  schools 
— The  New  York  Conference  on  the  care  of  dependent 
and  delinquent  children — The  Poor  Law  Schools  Com- 
mittee on  large  schools — Size  of  schools  for  juvenile 
offenders  in  Great  Britain — Physical  and  mental  examina- 
^  tion  of  children  committed  to  corrective  institutions — 
This  examination  should  be  repeated  at  frequent  intervals 
— Physical  examination  of  delinquent  juveniles  in  France 
— Liberation  from  corrective  institutions — Liberation  after 
a  short  period  of  detention — Evils  of  detention  for  pro- 
longed periods — Principles  regulating  the  release  of 
juveniles — Conduct  in  the  school — Nature  of  offence — 
•  Habit  of  offending — Destination  of  offender — Michigan 
system. 


PART  I. 

THE  CONDITIONS  OF  JUVENILE  CRIME. 


THE  EXTENT  OF  JUVENILE  CRIME. 

General  observations  on  criminal  returns — Extent  of  crime  only 
approximately  known — The  most  comprehensive  record  of 
crime  is  cases  reported  to  the  police — Criminal  returns  of 
various  countries  :  Australian,  English,  French,  Italian,  Ger- 
man— Value  of  criminal  returns  :  value  of  cases  tried,  of  con- 
victions, of  reports  to  police — Exactitude  of  criminal  returns 
depends  on  attitude  of  population  towards  the  criminal  law — 
Illustrations  of  this  principle  in  Ireland,  United  States,  Italy — 
Movement  of  juvenile  crime  in  civilised  communities — Growth 
of  humane  feeling  makes  it  difficult  to  estimate  the  tendencies 
of  juvenile  crime — Juvenile  crime  on  the  Continent — Juvenile 
crime  in  England — Relation  between  prison  population  and 
juvenile  crime — Effect  of  voluntary  homes  in  reducing  prison 
population — Latest  returns  relating  to  juvenile  crime  in  Eng- 
land— Juvenile  crime  in  the  United  States. 

^    It  is  impossible  to  measure  the  exact  proportions 

^    of  juvenile  crime  among  civilised  communities  owing 

'     to  the  inevitable  imperfection  of  all  official   returns 

,    relating  to  the  criminal  conditions  of  the  population. 

\j    These  returns,  however  carefully  they  may  be  drawn 

up,  can  only  include  offences  which  come  within  the 

knowledge  of  the  judicial  and  police  authorities,  and 

it  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  a  considerable 


2  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

number  of  offences  of  almost  every  description  are 
constantly  being  committed  which  do  not  reach  the 
ears  of  the  authorities  at  all.  Many  a  crime  is  per- 
petrated of  which  no  one  is  aware  except  the  person 
who  committed  it.  Many  offenders  are  not  prose- 
cuted even  when  they  are  detected  :  cases  of  criminal 
illegality  which  are  well  known  to  private  individuals 
are  in  many  instances  never  publicly  reported  to  the 
police.  In  all  these  circumstances  the  offences  which 
have  taken  place  leave  no  public  record  behind  them. 
They  are  passed  over  in  silence  in  all  the  official 
statistics  of  crime.  The  amount  of  crime  committed, 
whether  by  juveniles  or  adults,  is  always  largely  in 
excess  of  the  amount  of  crime  recorded  in  the  most 
complete  and  elaborate  public  returns.  The  silence, 
stealth,  and  secrecy,  which  play  so  essential  a  part  in 
almost  all  the  operations  of  criminal  offenders,  must 
always  have  the  effect  of  preventing  the  State  from 
arriving  at  an  exact  estimate  of  the  full  extent  of 
crime.  On  this  grave  subject,  as  well  as  on  other 
matters  of  the  utmost  social  importance,  we  must  be 
contented  with  approximations.  It  is,  however,  to  be 
recollected  that  these  approximations,  though  falling 
short  of  absolute  accuracy,  are  of  the  greatest  value 
for  all  practical  purposes. 

The  number  of  criminal  cases  annually  reported  to 
the  police  constitutes  the  most  comprehensive  account 
of  the  criminal  condition  of  a  community.  In  some 
of  the  Australian  colonies,  as,  for  instance.  New  South 
Wales,  a  record  is  kept  and  published  of  all  offences 
which  come  under  the  cognisance  of  the  police.  In 
England  and  Wales  a  similar  record  is  published  of 


THE   EXTENT   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  3 

all  serious  or  indictable  offences  reported  to  the  police. 
On  the  other  hand,  offences  of  a  non-indictable 
character  are  not  recorded.  In  most  continental 
states  no  record  is  kept  of  offences  committed  or 
reported  to  the  authorities  unless  the  offender  is 
arrested  and  tried.  In  France  and  Italy  the  criminal 
returns  are  based  upon  the  number  of  cases  tried  ;  in 
Germany  these  returns  are  based  upon  the  number  of 
persons  convicted.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general 
principle  that  criminal  returns  increase  in  accuracy  in 
proportion  as  criminal  proceedings  develop.  Criminal 
returns  relating  to  the  number  of  offences  reported  to 
the  police  are  more  comprehensive  but  not  so  accurate 
as  criminal  returns  relating  to  the  number  of  persons 
tried.  A  certain  proportion  of  cases  reported  to  the 
police  are  of  such  a  frivolous  character  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  bring  them  into  a  court  of  justice. 
Cases,  again,  in  which  convictions  are  obtained  are  a 
more  accurate  representation  of  the  actual  facts  than 
cases  which  are  merely  tried.  It  is  only  after  the 
offender  has  been  brought  before  a  court  of  justice,  and 
the  whole  facts  of  the  case  submitted  to  the  rigorous 
test  of  legal  proof,  that  it  is  possible  to  say  with  an 
approach  to  exactitude  in  what  the  offence  has 
consisted,  or  whether  an  offence  has  been  committed 
at  all.  As  criminal  returns  diminish  in  comprehen- 
siveness, they  increase  in  accuracy.  When  a  com- 
munity is  living  under  normal  social  and  political 
conditions  the  most  accurate,  although  the  least  com- 
prehensive, test  of  the  extent  of  crime  within  it  is 
the  number  of  persons  convicted  from  year  to  year. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  the   social   and  political 


4  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

conditions  of  a  community  are  not  normal — when,  for 
example,  considerable  sections  of  the  community  are 
actively  hostile  to  the  law — then  the  value  of  conviction 
ceases  to  be  a  sound  test,  and  the  value  of  trials  or 
cases  reported  to  the  police  increases  in  significance. 
The  reason  of  this  is  obvious.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult 
to  procure  convictions  when  the  population  is  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  law.  When  circumstances  of  this 
character  arise  juries  will  not  find  the  prisoner  guilty, 
no  matter  how  strong  the  evidence  may  be  against 
him  ;  witnesses  will  not  come  forward,  even  if  they 
have  seen  the  offence  committed.  Ireland  furnishes 
an  interesting  example  of  the  effect  of  social  and 
political  conditions  on  the  import  of  criminal  statistics. 
As  far  as  ordinary  crime  is  concerned  the  Irish 
returns  relating  to  convictions  are  a  trustworthy  test 
of  its  extent  and  seriousness.  This  arises  from  the 
fact  that  as  far  as  regards  ordinary  crime  the  Irish 
population  is  in  sympathy  with  the  law.  But  there 
is  one  class  of  offences  in  which  the  Irish  returns 
relating  to  convictions  cannot  be  accepted  as  an 
approximate  measure  of  their  prevalence  in  the  com- 
munity :  I  mean  agrarian  offences.  Where  it  is  a 
question  of  agrarian  offences  the  Irish  people  as  a 
body  are  more  or  less  hostile  to  the  law.  As  a  result 
of  this  condition  of  the  public  mind  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  get  evidence  in  connection  with  these 
offences  ;  it  is  also  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  juries 
to  convict.  Convictions  accordingly  lose  their  ordinary 
value  as  a  test  of  the  extent  of  agrarian  crime.  In 
such  circumstances  the  best  test  is  the  number  of 
offences  reported  to  the  police.    What  holds  good  with 


THE   EXTENT  OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  5 

respect  to  agrarian  offences  in  Ireland  holds  equally- 
good  with  respect  to  the  crimes  committed  by  lynchers 
in  the  United  States  and  the  robberies  and  assassina- 
tions committed  by  secret  societies  in  Italy.  In  short, 
the  relative  value  of  the  returns  of  crime  depends  on 
the  attitude  of  the  population  towards  the  criminal  law. 
Contenting  ourselves  with  these  general  observa- 
tions on  the  character  of  criminal  returns,  we  may 
now  proceed  to  ask  what  these  returns  teach  us  as  to 
the  prevalence  of  juvenile  crime.  In  the  first  place, 
•^  is  juvenile  delinquency  increasing  or  decreasing 
amongst  civilised  communities  ?  This  is  an  appa- 
rently simple  question,  yet  it  is  not  an  easy  one  to 
answer.  The  difficulty  of  answering  it  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  attitude  of  the  public  mind  and 
the  attitude  of  the  judicial  mind  towards  juvenile 
offenders  has  been  and  is  still  undergoing  important 
modifications  in  the  direction  of  greater  leniency 
and  indulgence.  The  result  of  this  is  that  there  is 
less  inclination  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  prosecute 
than  used  to  be  the  case ;  and  when  prosecutions  do 
take  place  there  is  a  distinct  tendency  to  mitigate  the 
seriousness  of  the  charges  preferred  against  the  young. 
When  the  weakness,  the  inexperience,  the  immaturity 
of  youth  are  taken  into  consideration,  the  tendency 
towards  greater  humanity  in  dealing  with  the  young 
must  be  pronounced  a  "'wholesome  one.  But  the 
effect  of  this  new  development  of  humane  feeling  is 
to  make  the  task  of  ascertaining  whether  juvenile 
crime  is  moving  upwards  or  downwards  a  difficult 
and  complex  operation.  In  cases  where  the  move- 
ment is  downwards  the   decrease   may  be  apparent 


6  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

rather  than  real.  It  is  a  movement  which  may  be 
accounted  for  by  a  more  humane  condition  of  the 
pubHc  mind  and  more  humane  methods  of  criminal 
procedure. 

Unfortunately,  there  are  very  few  communities  at 
the  present  time  in  which  juvenile  delinquency  is 
exhibiting  this  downward  tendency.  In  France  the 
number  of  juvenile  offenders  under  sixteen,  as  well  as 
the  number  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one,  is  un- 
questionably increasing.  In  Belgium,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  statistics  relating  to  the  age  of  offenders 
are  somewhat  imperfect,  it  is  difficult  to  say  what 
direction  juvenile  crime  is  taking.  In  1891  the  refor- 
matory schools  of  Belgium  {inaisons  de  reforme)  were 
changed  into  charitable  institutions  {inaisons  de  bien- 
faisance),  and  received  neglected  children  as  well  as 
juvenile  offenders.  It  is  therefore  impossible  to  esti- 
mate the  proportions  of  juvenile  crime  in  Belgium  by 
a  reference  to  the  number  of  inmates  committed  to 
these  establishments.  Article  25  of  the  law  of  1891 
increases  the  difficulty  of  comparing  the  past  and 
present  of  Belgium  with  respect  to  juvenile  crime. 
According  to  the  provisions  of  this  Article  children 
under  sixteen  who  have  committed  comparatively 
slight  offences  cannot  be  committed  to  prison  ;  they 
must  either  be  liberated  altogether  or  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  authorities  for  educational  treatment. 
In  Italy,  under  the  old  penal  code,  juvenile  offenders 
are  classified  into  three  distinct  groups.  All  children 
under  fourteen  years  of  age  are  included  in  the  first 
group,  all  juveniles  between  fourteen  and  eighteen 
are  included  in  the  second,  and  all  youths  between 


THE   EXTENT   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  7 

eighteen  and  twenty-one  are  included  in  the  third. 
In  each  of  these  groups  there  is  a  distinct  increase  of 
juvenile  delinquency.  The  only  statistics  relating  to 
Switzerland  are  the  number  of  juveniles  committed  to 
correctional  establishments.  These  public  institutions 
— ten  in  number — are  so  full  that  it  was  recently  im- 
possible to  admit  many  of  the  cases  committed  to 
them  by  the  criminal  tribunals.  In  spite  of  this 
increase  Dr.  Guillaume,  the  head  of  the  statistical 
bureau  at  Berne,  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  juvenile 
crime  is  not  increasing,  although  he  at  the  same  time 
confesses  that  it  is  not  diminishing.  In  Norway  the 
changes  in  criminal  law  which  have  taken  place  in 
recent  years  make  it  difficult  to  estimate  the  move- 
ment of  juvenile  crime.  In  Sweden  a  similar  difficulty 
is  experienced  owing  to  the  operation  of  chapter  iv. 
of  the  law  of  1890  relating  to  the  treatment  of 
juvenile  offenders.  In  Holland  juvenile  delinquency 
among  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  has 
doubled  within  the  last  twenty  years.  ^  In  Russia  the 
number  of  juveniles  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one 
years  of  age  convicted  before  courts  of  assizes  and 
judges  of  the  peace  is  increasing  faster  than  the 
growth  of  population,  and  was  never  so  high  as  it  is 
at  present.  In  Hungary,  whether  we  confine  our 
view  to  the  numbers  of  juvenile  offenders  under 
sixteen,  or  extend  it  so  as  to  include  all  juvenile 
offenders  up  to  the  age  of  twenty,  we  find  the  youth- 
ful population  exhibiting  exactly  the  same  criminal 
tendencies  as  in  other  countries.  Both  members  of 
the  dual  monarchy  have  the  same  complaint  to  make 
as  to  the  upward  movement  of  juvenile  crime.     In 


8  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

Austria  a  large  number  of  cases  of  petty  theft,  false 
pretences,  and  offences  of  a  somewhat  similar  descrip- 
tion, are  not  included  in  the  criminal  returns.  Offences 
of  this  character  are  very  prevalent  among  the  youth- 
ful population.  The  Austrian  returns  relating  to 
juvenile  crime  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  very  far 
from  being  either  complete  or  even  comprehensive. 
But,  incomplete  as  they  are,  they  still  tell  the  same  tale 
as  the  returns  of  other  civilised  communities.  From 
year  to  year,  almost  without  interruption,  the  number 
of  young  offenders  continues  to  increase.  German 
criminal  statistics  include  many  of  the  minor  offences 
which  are  excluded  from  the  Austrian,  and  conse- 
quently enable  us  to  measure  the  movement  of  crime 
in  the  German  empire  with  greater  precision.  But 
the  comprehensiveness  of  the  returns,  instead  of 
modifying  our  opinion  as  to  the  growth  of  juvenile 
crime  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  is  calculated  to 
deepen  the  conviction  that  it  has  assumed  the  propor- 
tions of  a  general  phenomenon.  Whilst  crime  among 
the  adult  population  in  Germany  has  increased 
between  25  and  30  per  cent,  within  the  last  ten 
years,  juvenile  crime  has  increased  more  than  50 
per  cent.  Our  review  of  the  criminal  condition 
of  the  European  populations  across  the  Channel  has 
been  a  fairly  wide  one,  and  wherever  we  look  we  are 
confronted  with  the  fact  that  the  moral  status  of  the 
juvenile  population,  as  far  as  it  can  be  exemplified  in 
the  statistics  of  crime,  is  the  reverse  of  satisfactory. 

It  has  for  many  years  been  customary  to  look  at 
England  as  the  one  bright  spot  on  the  European 
horizon,  and  continental  observers,  when  bewailing 


^ 


THE   EXTENT   OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  9 

the  criminal  tendencies  of  the  juvenile  population 
among  themselves,  have  at  the  same  time  held  us  up 
as  the-  one  state  in  the  sisterhood  of  nations  in  which 
juvenile  delinquency  was  steadily  on  the  decline. 
England  was  placed  upon  this  pedestal  in  conse- 
quence of  the  steady  and  practically  uninterrupted 
decrease  of  the  juvenile  population  in  prisons  under 
the  age  of  sixteen.  Since  the  admission  of  the  work- 
ing classes  to  the  franchise  in  1867  the  number  of 
children  under  the  age  of  sixteen  committed  to  prison 
has  been  continually  diminishing,  and  there  is  no 
sign"  that  the  process  has  even  yet  become  exhausted. 
The  number  of  juveniles  committed  to  prison  at  the 
present  time  do  not  amount  to  a  third  of  the  numbers 
annually  committed  about  thirty  years  ago.  This  is 
in  some  respects  a  very  remarkable  fact,  whatever 
explanation  we  may  ultimately  arrive  at  as  to  its  real 
significance.  It  has  been  usual  to  assume  that  only 
one  explanation  of  the  decrease  of  the  juvenile  prison 
population  was  possible.  The  falling  off  of  the  com- 
mitments of  juveniles  to  prison  was  assumed  to  be 
coincident  with  a  diminution  of  the  proportions  of 
juvenile  crime.  This  explanation  was  so  often  put 
forward,  and  remained  so  long  unquestioned,  that  it 
ultimately  came  to  be  accepted  as  an  indisputable 
axiom. 

Constant  contact  with  considerable  sections  of  the 
prison  population,  as  well  as  observation  of  the  change 
of  attitude  which  was  coming  over  the  criminal  courts 
in  their  dealings  with  convicted  men,  forced  some  of 
us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  movement  of  the  prison 
population    was   a   very    untrustworthy   test   of  the 


10  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

general  movement  of  crime.  In  articles  in  various 
periodicals  I  had  occasion  to  point  out  that  the 
increase  or  decrease  of  the  prison  population  de- 
pended upon  many  other  circumstances  besides  the 
increase  or  decrease  of  crime.  The  size  of  the  prison 
population  depends  in  the  first  place  on  the  duration 
of  sentences.  If  it  is  a  growing  tendency  of  the 
criminal  courts  to  diminish  the  length  of  sentences, 
the  criminal  population,  other  conditions  being 
similar,  will  diminish  in  the  same  ratio.  If  a  man 
is  sentenced  to  twelve  months'  imprisonment  for  an 
offence  of  the  same  character  as  used  to  be  visited 
with  a  sentence  of  five  years'  penal  servitude,  the 
population  in  penal  servitude  is  bound  to  diminish. 
But  in  these  circumstances  the  decrease  of  the  penal 
servitude  population  is  not  a  proof  of  the  decrease  of 
crime.  It  is  a  proof  of  the  growing  spirit  of  mildness 
which  is  entering  into  the  administration  of  the 
criminal  law.  In  the  same  way  if  a  person  is  merely 
fined  or  called  upon  to  find  sureties  for  good 
behaviour  for  the  same  offence  which  used  to  carry 
with  it  a  sentence  of  imprisonment,  the  prison  popu- 
lation will  diminish.  But  here  again  the  diminution 
of  the  prison  population  in  no  sense  implies  a  corre- 
sponding decrease  of  crime.  It  merely  shows  that 
judges  and  magistrates  are  losing  faith  in  the  efficacy 
of  the  jail,  and  are  coming  round  to  the  belief  that 
other  and  more  humane  methods  are  just  as  effective 
for  keeping  the  population  within  the  sphere  of  law. 
The  fact  that  sentences  are  diminishing  in  length,  the 
fact  that  imprisonment  is  being  more  and  more  sup- 
planted by  other  forms  of  punishment,  the  fact  that 


THE  EXTENT  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  II 

the  prison  population  is  not  an  approximately  accu- 
rate test  of  the  growth  or  dechne  of  crime  is  now 
universally  admitted.  They  are  even  incorporated  in 
the  revised  criminal  statistics  of  England  and  Wales. 
When  these  obvious  facts  were  put  before  the  public 
a  few  years  ago  by  me,  in  the  pages  of  the  Nmctee^ith 
Century,  I  was  attacked  in  unexpected  quarters,  as 
has  been  said,  "  with  a  bitterness  almost  amounting 
to  ferocity." 

If  the  prison  population  as  a  whole  cannot  be 
accepted  as  a  test  of  the  dimensions  of  crime,  far 
less  can  the  number  of  juveniles  in  prison,  or  com- 
mitted to  prison,  be  taken  as  measuring  the  extent  of 
juvenile  delinquency.  If  there  is  one  thing  more 
conspicuous  than  another  in  connection  with  the 
administration  of  criminal  law,  it  is  the  constantly 
increasing  unwillingness  of  judges  and  magistrates  to 
commit  children  to  prison.  The  Chief  Constable  of 
Staffordshire,  in  an  interesting  pamphlet  on  the  Fluc- 
tuations of  Crime,  gives  the  following  example  of  this 
reluctance  :  "  I  have  before  me,"  he  says,  "  particulars 
of  a  young  lad  who  was  seven  times  convicted  of 
felony  without  being  committed  to  prison,  and  it  was 
only  on  the  eighth  conviction  that  he  was  committed 
to  prison  as  a  preliminary  to  treatment  in  a  reforma- 
tory." This  is  not  an  isolated  and  exceptional  case 
Many  other  instances  of  a  similar  character  might 
easily  be  given  if  it  were  necessary  to  add  further 
force  to  a  fact  which  is  sufficiently  notorious.  The 
action  of  the  judiciary  in  connection  with  the  im- 
prisonment of  children  finds  a  parallel  in  the  action 
of  the  executive.     It  is  not  so  very  long  since  the 


12  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

prisons  of  England  used  to  contain  within  their  walls 
a  large  number  of  children  under  fourteen  years  of 
age.  At  the  present  time  whenever  a  child  under 
fourteen  is  committed  to  prison,  even  if  merely  on 
remand,  the  fact  must  at  once  be  communicated  to 
the  executive,  unless  the  child  is  under  detention 
preliminary  to  his  transfer  to  a  reformatory  school. 
In  recent  years  the  law  itself  has  been  altered  in  the 
direction  of  minimising  the  number  of  juveniles  in 
prison.  According  to  the  provisions  of  the  Reforma- 
tory Schools  Act  of  1893  it  is  no  longer  obligatory 
to  send  a  juvenile  to  prison  before  committing  him  to 
detention  in  a  reformatory.  Before  the  passing  of 
this  Act  all  children  sentenced  to  reformatories  had 
to  be  committed  to  prison  for  a  certain  period.  The 
Act  of  1893  has  wisely  abolished  this  ridiculous 
arrangement,  and  at  the  present  time  about  70  per 
cent,  of  the  children  sent  to  reformatories  are  trans- 
ferred to  these  institutions  without  being  subjected 
to  preliminary  imprisonment.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  the  judiciary,  the  executive,  and  the  legislature 
are  all  acting  in  concert- with  the  object  of  reducing 
the  juvenile  prison  population  to  the  lowest  possible 
minimum.  Under  such  a  powerful  combination  of 
circumstances  the  decrease  of  the  prison  population 
under  the  age  of  sixteen  comes  within  the  category 
of  facts  which  admit  of  simple  explanation. 

Other  agencies  in  addition  to  those  just  mentioned 
have  likewise  been  at  work  in  reducing  the  propor- 
tions of  the  juvenile  prison  population.  Within  the 
last  twenty  years  in  particular  a  vast  amount  of 
philanthropic  effort  has  been  expended  in  the  found- 


THE  EXTENT  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  1 3 

ing  of  voluntary  homes  for  the  class  of  children  who 
used  to  find  their  way  into  prison.  These  voluntary 
homes  are  products  of  private  charity  ;  they  receive 
no  assistance  whatever  from  the  State,  and  are  abso- 
lutely unconnected  with  it.  Some  of  these  institu- 
tions, such  as  Dr.  Barnardo's  Homes  and  the  Church 
of  England  Society  for  providing  Homes  for  Waifs 
and  Strays,  deal  with  dependent  and  delinquent 
children  on  a  vast  scale.  Other  institutions  of  a 
similar  character  confine  their  operations  within 
more  modest  limits.  But  all  of  them  are  actively 
occupied  in  the  beneficent  work  of  saving  the  young, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  magnificent  efforts  which  they 
have  put  forth,  and  which  they  are  now  putting  forth 
with  unabated  energy  and  devotion,  England  would 
occupy  a  very  much  worse  position  with  respect  to 
crime  of  all  kinds  than  it  does  to-day.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  say  how  many  of  these  voluntary 
homes  are  at  present  in  existence.  No  less  than  120 
of  them  are  in  connection  with  an  excellent  society 
known  as  the  Reformatory  and  Refuge  Union.  But 
the  homes  in  connection  with  this  society  do  not  by 
any  means  exhaust  the  list ;  they  only  serve  to  show 
what  a  vast  amount  of  voluntary  activity  is  at  present 
being  exhibited  in  the  task  of  rescuing  the  young 
from  a  condition  of  dependence  and  crime. 

Inasmuch  as  the  juvenile  prison  population,  owing 
to  the  circumstances  which  have  just  been  mentioned, 
sheds  so  very  little  light  on  the  movement  of  juvenile 
crime  in  England,  we  must  look  for  information  on 
this  important  question  in  other  directions.  Unfortu- 
nately it  is  impossible  to  obtain  information  of  a 
3 


14  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

satisfactory  character  covering  a  considerable  period 
of  time.  Prior  to  the  pubHcation  of  the  English 
Judicial  Statistics  for  1893  no  information  was 
accessible  relating  to  the  number  of  juveniles  tried  or 
convicted  before  the  criminal  courts.  All  that  can 
be  done  in  the  direction  of  ascertaining  whether 
juvenile  crime  has  been  increasing  is  to  consult  the 
returns  dealing  with  the  number  of  juveniles  sent  to 
prison,  the  number  sentenced  to  be  whipped,  and  the 
number  ordered  to  be  detained  in  reformatory  and 
industrial  schools.  These  returns,  it  is  to  be  recol- 
lected, do  not  take  account  of  the  numbers  (increasing 
in  later  years)  who  are  discharged  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Summary  Jurisdiction  Act,  or  the  num- 
bers punished  by  the  imposition  of  a  fine,  or  the 
numbers  dealt  with  under  the  First  Offenders  Act, 
or  the  numbers  handed  over  to  voluntary  homes  and 
police-court  missions.  On  the  other  hand,  the  returns 
include  a  certain  number  of  children  committed  under 
the  Education  Act ;  but  this  Act  is  often  utilised  by 
humane  magistrates  as  a  merciful  substitute  for  the 
more  severe  provisions  of  the  criminal  law.  Not- 
withstanding the  incompleteness  and  inadequacy  of 
the  figures  relating  to  the  number  of  juveniles 
imprisoned,  whipped,  and  sent  to  correctional  institu- 
tions as  a  test  of  the  movement  of  juvenile  delin- 
quency, these  returns,  as  far  as  they  are  of  any  value 
at  all,  show  that  the  number  of  juvenile  offenders  has 
increased  within  the  last  thirty  years>4  That  the 
increase  is  not  greater  than  the  growth  of  population 
is  to  a  large  extent  to  be  attributed  to  the  efforts  of 
the  various  institutions  which  have  sprung  up  in 
recent  years  for  alleviating  the  lot  of  the  young. 


THE   EXTENT   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  I  5 

When  we  pass  away  from  the  rather  unsatisfactory 
attempt  to  compare  the  present  with  the  past,  and 
proceed    to    examine    the  latest   returns   relating    to 
juvenile    delinquency,    we    find    ourselves    on    surer 
ground.     For  some  years  past  the  thankless  task  has 
devolved  upon  me  of  pointing  out  the  imperfections 
of  our  criminal  statistics,  and  the  backward  position 
which  they  occupied  as  compared  with  official  publi- 
cations  of  a  similar  character  in   France,  Italy,  and 
Germany.     Happily  as  a  result  of  these  representa- 
tions  our  criminal  returns  were  taken   in  hand  and 
reorganised,  and  we   are  now  enabled  to  gauge  the 
moral  condition  of  the  juvenile  population  in  so  far 
as  it  is  revealed  in  the  statistics  of  crime.     Up  to  the 
present    time  we  have  only  information  relating  to 
two  years.     It  is  almost  needless  to  remark  that  the 
narrow  limits    of  two    years    constitute    too  short  a 
period  of  time  for  drawing  conclusions  either  one  way 
or  the  other  as  to  the  growth  or  decrease  of  juvenile 
crime.       Exceptional    social    and    economic    circum- 
stances   produce   exceptional    fluctuations,   and   the 
effect  of  these  exceptional    circumstances   can   only 
be  counterbalanced  when  we  have  figures  before  us 
which  deal  with  a  considerable  number  of  years.     It 
may  not,  however,  be  amiss  to  mention  the  opinion 
of    the   editor    of    the    revised    returns,    as    to    the 
present   tendencies   of  juvenile   crime.     Though  the 
juvenile    population   of  the  English  prisons  has  de- 
creased, he    says  the  results  now  obtained   unfortu- 
nately   show    that    this    does    not    imply   any   real 
diminution    in    the    amount    of  youthful  criminality. 
A  statement  of  this  character  at  once  puts  an  end  to 


1 6  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

the  idea  that  England  occupies  an  exceptional  posi- 
tion among  the  nations  of  the  world  with  respect  to 
juvenile  crime.  If  it  has  the  effect  of  shattering  our 
self-complacency  and  compelling  us  to  look  unwel- 
come facts  in  the  face  it  will  do  an  immense  amount 
of  good.  We  shall  recognise  that  more  strenuous 
efforts  are  yet  needed  on  the  part  of  the  individual 
and  society  in  furthering  the  highest  welfare  of  the 
young. 

I  cannot  close  this  survey  of  the  movement  of 
juvenile  crime  among  civilised  communities  without 
reference  to  the  United  States.  All  students  of 
criminal  questions  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Mr. 
Frederick  Wines,  the  special  census  agent,  for  his 
luminous  and  exhaustive  official  report  on  Crime, 
Pauperism,  and  Benevolence  in  the  United  States.^ 
This  report,  which  enumerates  the  prison  and  reforma- 
tory school  population,  is  the  only  information  we 
possess  which  deals  with  the  criminal  condition  of 
the  United  States  as  a  whole.  In  discussing  the 
character  of  the  English  criminal  returns  it  was 
pointed  out  that  the  prison  and  reformatory  school 
population  was  a  very  incomplete,  and  in  some 
respects  inadequate,  representation  of  the  real  dimen- 
sions of  crime  in  a  community.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  the  American  returns  relating  to  reforma- 
tories and  prisons.  The  American  as  well  as  the 
English  criminal  law  uses  a  variety  of  methods  in 
addition  to  prisons  and  reformatories  in  the  treatment 

'  Report  on  Crime,  Pauperism,  and  Benevolence  in  the  United 
States  at  the  eleventh  census,  1890.  Part  II. :  General  Tables. 
Washington,  1895. 


THE   EXTENT  OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  ly 

of  criminal  offenders.  In  these  circumstances  it  will 
easily  be  understood  that  the  number  of  offenders 
under  detention  only  affords  a  partial  view  of  the  full 
extent  of  crime  in  the  United  States.  But  this  view, 
such  as  it  is,  certainly  shows  that  the  position  of  the 
United  States  with  respect  to  juvenile  delinquency  is 
no  better  than  the  position  of  Europe.  The  popula- 
tion under  detention  in  reformatory  institutions  is 
increasing  more  rapidly  than  the  growth  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole,  and,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  see, 
the  juvenile  population  in  prisons  is  doing  the  same 
thing.  How  many  juveniles  in  addition  to  those 
committed  to  prisons  and  reformatories  are  dealt 
with  by  fine,  by  admonition,  by  sureties  for  good 
behaviour,  by  voluntary  institutions,  it  is  impossible 
to  tell.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  numbers  dealt 
with  by  these  various  methods  are  exhibiting  the 
same  upward  tendency  as  the  population  of  prisons 
and  reformatories.  Whether,  then,  we  look  at  the 
Old  World  or  at  the  New,  we  find  that  juvenile  crime 
is  a  problem  which  is  not  decreasing  in  magnitude 
with  the  march  of  civilisation.  Every  civilised  com- 
munity is  confronted  with  it  in  a  more  or  less 
menacing  form. 

Much  has  been  done,  but  much  yet  remains  to  be 
done.  The  work  that  has  been  accomplished  in  the 
past  is  not  a  ground  for  self-complacency  and 
quiescence  in  the  present.  It  is,  on  the  contrary'  a 
stimulus  to  fresh  exertion. 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  JUVENILE  CRIME. 

International  distribution  of  juvenile  crime — Difficulties  of  inter- 
national comparison  —  International  distribution  of  crimes 
against  the  person — ^Crime  in  the  north  and  south  of  Europe — 
Homicide  among  juveniles  in  England  and  the  United  States — 
Causes  of  homicide  in  the  United  States — Homicide  among  the 
coloured  population  of  the  United  States — General  conditions 
determining  the  distribution  of  homicide — Local  distribution 
of  juvenile  crime — Unevenness  in  the  local  distribution  of 
juvenile  crime — The  distribution  of  juvenile  crime  runs  parallel 
with  the  distribution  of  crime  in  general — Juvenile  and  adult 
crime  run  together,  as  both  proceed  from  the  same  conditions 
— Density  of  population  and  crime — Effects  of  a  dense  popula- 
tion in  producing  crime — The  solitary  dweller  in  large  cities — 
The  struggle  for  existence  in  large  cities — The  temptation  to 
cupidity  in  large  cities — Effect  of  decentralisation  of  industry 
in  diminishing  crime — Local  distribution  of  pauperism  and  of 
crime — Least  crime  where  there  is  most  pauperism — Poor  law 
administration  and  crime — Economic  conditions  and  crime — 
General  conclusions. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  seen  that  amongst 
almost  all  civilised  communities  juvenile  crime  is 
exhibiting  a  tendency  to  increase  as  fast  as  the 
growth  of  the  juvenile  population,  and  in  many 
countries  even  faster.  In  some  countries  the  real 
proportions  of  juvenile  crime  have  been  obscured  by 
alterations   in  judicial  procedure  and   alterations  in 

i8 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  1 9 

the  treatment  of  juvenile  offenders,  but  when  these 
alterations  are  accounted  for  the  fact  becomes  com- 
paratively clear  that  little  progress  has  as  }-et  been 
made  in  reducing  the  dimensions  of  juvenile  de- 
linquency. It  would  be  interesting  as  well  as  in- 
structive if  we  could  only  get  to  know  what  countries 
are  worst  situated  and  what  countries  are  best 
situated  with  respect  to  juvenile  crime.  A  fact  of 
this  character  would  perhaps  enable  us  to  see  what 
sort  of  repressive  or  preventive  agencies  are  most 
likely  to  be  successful  in  overcoming  the  tendencies 
to  crime  amongst  the  young.  Unfortunately  it  is 
impossible  to  construct  a  table  which  would  show 
with  any  degree  of  accuracy  the  comparative  situation 
of  the  various  civilised  communities  with  respect  to 
juvenile  crime.  The  difficulty  of  constructing  such 
a  table  does  not  arise  so  much  from  the  want  of 
figures  as  from  the  circumstance  that  the  figures 
when  confronted  with  one  another  could  not  be 
accepted  as  an  accurate  representation  of  the  facts. 
The  figures  relating  to  juvenile  crime,  and  in  fact 
to  all  sorts  of  crime  in  every  community,  are  de- 
termined by  the  character  of  the  criminal  law 
and  the  methods  of  criminal  administration  which 
prevail  in  that  community.  But  it  is  notorious, 
as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  that  in  no  two 
countries  is  criminal  law  identical,  and  in  no  two 
countries  is  it  administered  on  the  same  principles  or 
regarded  with  the  same  eyes  by  the  populations  who 
happen  to  be  subject  to  it.  As  long  as  criminal  law 
and  administration,  and  the  attitude  of  the  various 
populations  towards  both,  differ  so  widely  as  they  do 


20  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS, 

at  present,  all  attempts  at  instituting  comparisons 
must  be  more  or  less  misleading.  The  only  remarks 
which  can  be  made  with  any  degree  of  probability 
on  the  international  aspect  of  juvenile  crime  is  that 
offences  against  the  person,  and  more  particularly  the 
crime  of  homicide,  are  greater  among  the  juvenile 
pojDulations  of  the  south  of  Europe  than  among  the 
juvenile  populations  of  the  north.  As  far  as  the 
crime  of  homicide  is  concerned  the  differences  in 
criminal  law  are  not  of  such  a  profound  nature  as 
to  destroy  the  value  of  international  comparisons, 
and  these  international  comparisons  all  tend  to  show 
that  juveniles  in  the  south  are  more  addicted  to 
homicide  than  juveniles  in  the  north.  How  this 
apparent  difference  between  the  north  and  the  south 
is  to  be  explained  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  matter. 
The  difference  is  attributed  by  some  to  difference  of 
social  surroundings  in  the  shape  of  political,  religious, 
marital,  and  economic  institutions  ;  it  is  attributed  by 
others  to  physiological  and  mental  differences  arising 
out  of  differences  of  race ;  it  is  also,  attributed  to 
social  differences  arising  out  of  racial  differences. 
The  difference  between  the  north  and  south  of 
Europe  in  the  matter  of  homicide  among  the  young 
probably  arises  from  diversity  of  racial,  social,  and 
climatic  conditions   combined.^ 

Whilst  we  are  dealing  with  the  international  aspect 
of  homicide  it  may  be  of  interest  to  compare  the 
amount  of  homicidal  crime  in  England  with  its 
amount  in  the  United  States.     In  the  United  States 

»  See  E.   Ferri.    "  L'Omicidio  nell'  Anthropologia  Criminale," 
vol.  i.  p.  236. 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  21 

the  most  accurate  and  comprehensive  returns  we 
have  to  go  by  are  the  returns  relating  to  the  offences 
committed  by  the  population  committed  to  prison. 
According  to  the  United  States  census  of  the  prison 
population  in  1890  it  appears  that  there  were  twenty- 
three  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen  under 
detention  for  the  crime  of  homicide,  and  388- 
juveniles  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  eighteen 
under  detention  for  the  same  offence.  In  England, 
on  the  other  hand,  according  to  the  criminal  returns 
for  1 893  and  1 894,  there  were  no  cases  of  conviction 
for  homicide  among  the  juvenile  population  under 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  only  six  cases  among  the 
juvenile  population  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one. 
If  the  United  States  returns  relating  to  homicide 
include  manslaughter  as  well  as  murder  it  will  still 
be  found  that  the  numbers  per  million  of  the  juvenile 
population  are  much  higher  in  America  than  in 
England.  In  England  there  were  only  seven  cases 
of  manslaughter  in  the  two  years  1893-4  among 
children  under  sixteen,  and  eighteen  cases  of  the  same 
offence  among  juveniles  between  sixteen  and  twenty- 
one.  Whatever  allowances  we  may  make  for  dif- 
ferences in  judicial  procedure  between  the  two 
countries,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  resist  the  conclusion 
that  homicide  among  the  young,  whether  in  the  form 
of  murder  or  manslaughter,  is  more  prevalent  in 
proportion  to  the  population  in  the  United  States 
than  it  is  in  England. 

The  difference  with  regard  to  this  capital  offence 
may  be  accounted  for  on  a  variety  of  grounds.  In 
the  first  place  it  is  possible  that  the  American  comes 


22  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

to  maturity  more  quickly  than  the  Englishman.  If 
this  is  the  fact  a  child  of  fourteen  in  the  United 
States  is  nearer  manhood  than  an  English  child  of 
the  same  age,  and  it  is  universally  recognised  that 
the  nearer  maturity  is  approached  the  larger  is  the 
proportion  of  offences  against  the  person.  Another 
cause  of  the  comparative  prevalence  of  homicide 
among  the  juvenile  population  of  the  United  States 
is  no  doubt  to  be  attributed  to  the  large  influx  of 
emigrants  in  recent  times  from  the  south  and  south- 
east of  Europe.  It  is  notorious  that  peoples  of  the 
type  of  the  Italians  and  Hungarians  exhibit  much 
less  respect  for  human  life  than  is  to  be  found  among 
the  northern  races.  Contact  with  the  humanising 
influences  of  American  civilisation  no  doubt  has  a 
wholesome  effect  in  modifying  the  character  and 
temperament  of  the  children  of  the  emigrants  from 
the  south.  But  family  and  racial  characteristics 
cannot  be  altogether  obliterated  by  social  surround- 
ings, and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  juvenile 
delinquency  of  the  most  serious  kind  in  the  United 
States  is  in  some  measure  to  be  set  down  to  the 
boundless  hospitality  of  her  shores. 

Another  cause  of  a  racial  character  of  the  com- 
paratively high  ratio  of  juvenile  homicide  in  the 
United  States  is  the  presence  of  a  large  coloured 
element  in  the  population.  In  proportion  to  its 
numbers  the  coloured  population  is  very  much  more 
addicted  to  homicide  than  the  white  population. 
Although  the  coloured  population  only  amounts  to 
one-seventh  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States, 
yet  it  is  responsible  for  no  less  than  one-third  of  the 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  2$ 

cases  of  homicide.  The  habit  of  carrying  arms  is  a 
social  rather  than  a  racial  characteristic,  and  this 
habit  has  the  effect  of  augmenting  the  proportions 
of  homicide  in  every  community  which  is  ad- 
dicted to  it.  As  far  as  the  United  States  is 
concerned,  American  civilisation  is  capable  of  ulti- 
mately absorbing  the  vast  mass  of  extraneous 
elements  which  is  continually  seeking  incorporation 
within  it,  but  the  criminal  returns  show  that  it  has 
to  suffer  severely  while  the  process  of  assimilating 
heterogeneous  races  is   in   operation. 

A  review  of  all  the  facts  relating  to  the  crime  of  homi- 
cide among  the  young  would  seem  to  show  that  its  dis- 
tribution in  various  countries  is  determined  by  a  variety 
of  conditions.  It  is  determined  in  the  first  place  by  the 
comparative  quickness  or  slowness  with  which  the 
youthful  population  of  various  races  reaches  maturity. 
It  is  determined  by  the  homogeneity  or  heterogeneity 
of  the  population.  It  is  determined  by  racial  and 
social  characteristics.  Some  of  these  conditions  are 
capable  of  being  modified,  and  some  are  exceedingly 
hard  to  change.  Social  conditions,  for  example,  are 
susceptible  of  almost  infinite  modification,  and  in  so 
far  as  these  conditions  are  modified  in  a  healthy 
direction  the  crime  of  homicide  will  steadily  diminish 
among  the  young. 

An  inquiry  into  the  local  distribution  of  juvenile 
crime  yields  more  satisfactory  results  than  an  exami- 
nation of  its  international  distribution.  Difficulties 
which  are  almost  if  not  altogether  insuperable  in  the 
case  of  international  comparisons  hardly  exist  at  all 
in  comparisons  instituted  between  different  divisions 


24  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  the  same  community  where  the  whole  community 
is  Hving  under  the  same  form  of  criminal  law.  In 
some  countries,  such  as  Switzerland  and  the  United 
States,  where  each  canton  or  each  state  has  a  criminal 
law  peculiar  to  itself,  comparisons  between  different 
divisions  of  the  same  country  present  a  certain 
number  of  difficulties.  But  in  countries  such  as 
England,  France,  and  Germany,  where  the  criminal 
code  is  the  same  and  where  the  criminal  administration 
is  the  same,  very  useful  results  may  be  arrived  at  as 
to  the  causes  of  crime  by  looking  at  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  distributed  in  the  several  divisions  of  the 
country. 

One  of  the  first  facts  which  strikes  an  inquirer 
into  _the  criminal  condition  of  a  community  is  the 
uneven  manner  in  which  crime  is  distributed  among 
the  various  geographical  divisions  of  which  a  country 
is  composed.  The  criminal  map,  for  instance,  of 
France  shows  that  some  departments  are  much  more 
addicted  to  offences  against  the  law  than  other  de- 
partments. The  criminal  maps  of  Germany  or  Italy 
exhibiting  the  territorial  distribution  of  crime  tell 
the  same  tale  of  inequality.  The  criminal  map  of 
England  shows  that  there  is  the  widest  diversity 
between  one  county  and  another  with  respect  to  the 
local  ratio  of  offences.  In  the  county  of  Cornwall,  for 
instance,  there  are  less  than  fifty  indictable  offences 
against  property  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  popula- 
tion. In  the  county  of  London,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  are  more  than  250  indictable  offences  against 
property  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  population. 
Such    counties     as     Lancaster,    Stafford,    Warwick, 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  25 

Durham,  Northumberland,  exhibit  between  four  and 
five  times  as  many  indictable  crimes  against  property 
as  the  Welsh  counties  along  the  sea-coast.  When 
we  look  at  the  geographical  distribution  of  crimes 
against  morals,  or  at  the  geographical  distribution  of 
offences  such  as  drunkenness,  we  see  the  most  re- 
markable differences  between  one  part  of  the  country 
and  another.  In  some  counties  crimes  against  morals 
are  six  times  as  high  as  they  are  in  other  counties. 
In  the  same  way  drunkenness  is  from  four  to  six 
times  more  prevalent  in  the  northern  counties  of 
England  than  in  the  eastern.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
give  any  additional  facts  to  show  the  wide  diversity 
which  exists  between  one  part  of  the  country  and 
another  with  respect  to  the  prevalence  of  crime. 

In  England  juvenile  crime  is  distributed  in  very 
much  the  same  manner  as  crime  in  general.  Where 
crimes  of  violence  and  crimes  against  property  reach 
a  high  ratio  in  proportion  to  the  population,  it  will 
usually  be  found  that  juvenile  crime  is  also  at  a  high 
ratio  in  proportion  to  the  juvenile  population.  In 
other  words,  juvenile  crime  is  usually  high  where 
crime  as  a  whole  is  high.  The  only  way  in  which  a 
rough  estimate  can  be  arrived  at  of  the  manner  in 
which  juvenile  offences  are  distributed  is  by  looking 
at  the  commitments  to  prison  and  industrial  schools 
in  the  various  counties  of  England  and  Wales.  The 
annual  number  of  committals  to  prison  and  industrial 
schools  is  not  by  any  means  an  accurate  test  of  the 
distribution  of  juvenile  offences.  Large  numbers  of 
juveniles  are  disposed  of  by  fine,  by  admonition,  by 
sureties,  by  corporal    punishment,  and   the  numbers 


26  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

disposed  of  by  imprisonment  and  committal  to  in- 
dustrial schools  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  number  of 
juveniles  annually  tried  before  the  criminal  courts. 
But  the  number  of  juveniles  committed  to  prison 
and  to  correctional  institutions  is  our  only  available 
test  of  the  distribution  of  juvenile  crime.  According 
to  a  return  drawn  up  by  me  for  the  Departmental 
Committee  on  Prisons,  and  incorporated  in  the 
Minutes  of  Evidence,  the  number  of  commitments 
to  prison  and  to  industrial  schools  is  greatest  in  such 
districts  as  the  metropolis,  Northumberland,  and 
Lancashire.  It  is  likewise  in  these  districts  that 
crime  as  a  whole  is  greatest.  On  the  other  hand, 
counties  which  disclose  the  lowest  proportion  of 
juvenile  offenders  to  the  population  are  as  a  rule 
counties  which  show  a  low  percentage  of  crime  in 
general.  The  exceptions  to  the  rule  that  crime  in 
general  and  juvenile  crime  run  on  parallel  lines  are 
explicable  on  the  ground  that  the  treatment  of 
juvenile  offenders  differs  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  In  some  parts  fining,  admonition,  whipping, 
are  largely  resorted  to  in  the  treatment  of  juvenile 
offenders ;  in  other  parts  magistrates  are  more  inclined 
to  commit  to  prison  or  to  correctional  institutions. 
When  these  differences  of  procedure  are  taken  into 
account  the  general  conclusion  remains  that  there  is 
an  intimate  connection  between  the  local  distribution 
of  crime  in  general  and  the  local  distribution  of 
juvenile  crime. 

The  reason  juvenile  crime  runs  on  parallel  lines 
with  crime  as  a  whole  is  that  both  juvenile  crime  and 
crime  as  a  whole  proceed  in  the  main  from  the  same 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  2/ 

conditions.  One  of  the  first  and  most  conspicuous 
of  these  conditions  may  be  described  as  the  concen- 
tration of  population  arising  out  of  the  concentration 
of  manufacturing  industries.  All  over  the  civilised 
world  most  crime  is  committed  in  districts  which  are 
most  thickly  populated.  Whether  we  look  at  the 
criminal  returns  of  France,  Germany,  or  the  United 
States,  we  find  that,  as  in  England,  a  high  rate  of 
crime  is  always  the  result  of  a  densely  aggregated 
population.  A  population  of  lOO  persons  to  the 
square  mile,  if  it  forms  part  of  the  same  nationality 
and  is  living  under  the  same  laws,  is  much  less 
criminal  in  proportion  to  its  numbers  than  a  popu- 
lation of  500  persons  to  the  square  mile.  And 
again,  a  population  of  1,000  persons  to  the  square 
mile  is  much  more  criminal  in  proportion  to  its 
numbers  than  a  population  of  500  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  Wales,  for  instance,  with  the  exception 
of  Glamorgan,  has  only  a  population  of  about  150 
to  the  square  mile.  In  Glamorgan  the  population  to 
the  square  mile  is  between  700  and  800.  The  result 
is  that  the  dense  population  of  Glamorgan  produces, 
in  proportion,  between  three  and  four  times  as  much 
crime  as  the  rest  of  Wales.  Westmoreland,  with  a 
thin  population,  does  not  produce  half  as  much  crime 
per  thousand  inhabitants  as  the  neighbouring  county 
of  Lancaster,  with  a  dense  population.  In  estimating 
the  effect  of  density  of  population  on  the  tendency  to 
crime  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  social  laws  do  not 
possess  the  rigidity  and  inevitability  of  physical  laws. 
They  are  always  more  or  less  modifiable,  and  this 
holds  true  of  the  relation  between  density  of  population 


28  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

and  crime.  In  cases,  for  instance,  where  there  is  little 
economic  stability,  and  where  considerable  sections 
of  the  community  are  from  time  to  time  suddenly 
plunged  into  distress,  a  sparse  population  may 
produce  more  crime  than  a  dense  one.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  comparatively  dense  population 
with  a  high  degree  of  economic  stability  will  be  less 
criminally  disposed  than  a  district  with  few  inhabi- 
tants to  the  "square  mile  if  these  inhabitants  have 
to  lead  a  precarious,  unsettled  economic  existence. 
But  where  economic  and  other  social  and'  adminis- 
trative conditions  are  similar,  a  dense  population  in 
proportion  to  its  numbers  produces  a  larger  amount 
of  crimie  than  a  sparse  population. 

The  mischievous  effects  of  a  crowded  population 
on  the  character  of  the  individuals  composing  it  arise 
from  several  obvious  causes.  A  community  of  this 
sort  produces  a  large  proportion  of  weak  and  ineffec- 
tive people  possessing  very  inadequate  physical 
equipment  for  successfully  fighting  the  battle  of  life. 
As  a  result  of  their  physical  deficiencies  people  of 
this  kind  are  unable  to  obtain  regular  employment 
or  to  keep  in  work  when  they  obtain  it.  Disease  and 
sickness  interfere  with  them  and  incapacitate  them, 
and  they  are  driven  down  to  the  very  lowest  social 
stratum  if  they  do  not  happen  to  have  been  born  in 
\t.\  A  juvenile  in  this  position,  although  he  may  not 
have  any  strong  criminal  instincts,  is  sorely  tempted 
to  enter  upon  a  criminal  career.  The  ordinary 
avenues  of  honest  industry  are  closed  against  him 
owing  to  his  bodily  infirmities  ;  the  precarious  means 
by  which  he  procures  a   bare  existence  sometimes 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  2g 

completely  fail  him.  The  comparative  impunity  with 
which  offences  may  be  perpetrated  in  large  cities 
emboldens  him,  and  even  if  b6  is  caught  and  convicted 
imprisonment  is  a  mode  of  punishment  he  does  not 
keenly  feel.  Towns  also  contain  a  larger  percentage 
of  orphan  children  than  the  country  districts,  and 
a  larger  percentage  of  young  people  who  lose  their 
parents  as  they  are  entering  upon  the  most  critical 
period  of  life.  This  arises  from  the  circumstance 
that  the  mortality  of  the  towns  is  higher  than  the 
mortality  of  the  rural  districts.  Nothing  is  more 
disastrous  than  the  loss  of  parental  care  in  early  life, 
and  there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the  pro- 
portions of  juvenile  delinquency  in  our  large  cities 
is  considerably  swollen  by  this  cause  alone.  Even 
when  the  parents  do  not  die  a  good  many  of  our 
city  children  have  to  leave  the  parental  roof  when 
quite  young  owing  to  deficiency  of  bedroom  accom- 
modation. Such  children  are  compelled  to  take  up 
their  abode  in  the  common  lodging-house.  Here 
they  find  themselves  in  the  society  of  vagrants, 
thieves,  and  the  lowest  scum  of  the  community. 
In  the  midst  of  such  surroundings  it  is  no  wonder 
that  many  of  them  are  submerged  and  lost. 

'A  considerable  number  of  juveniles  from  the 
country  also  fall  when  they  enter  upon  town  life.  "^ 
The  restraining  eye  of  the  village  community  is  no 
longer  upon  them.  In  many  cases  they  find  them- 
selves in  a  large  city  without  friends,  without  family 
ties,  and  belonging  to  no  social  circle  in  which  their 
conduct  is  either  scrutinised  or  observed.  In  youth 
the  social  instincts  are  keen,  and  must  in  one  way 
4 


30  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

or  another  be  gratified,  but  the  only  method  in  which 
the  soHtary  dweller  in  vast  cities  can  do  this  is  at  the 
cheap  music-hall  and  the  public-house.  It  by  no 
means  follows  that  every  young  man  who  frequents 
these  places  of  entertainment  is  to  be  set  down  as 
lost.  On  the  contrary,  the  majority  are  able  to  set 
up  some  sort  of  limitation  for  themselves,  which  they 
rarely  or  ever  venture  to  overstep.  They  are  aware 
that  a  single  week's  thoughtlessness  is  sufficient  to 
lose  them  their  occupation,  and  perhaps  to  undo 
them  for  ever.  The  fear  of  these  consequences  acts 
in  most  cases  as  an  effective  check  on  the  impulse 
to  dissipation.  On  the  other  hand,  unfortunately, 
instances  are  not  wanting  in  which  the  lonely, 
unfriended  existence  of  the  country  lad  in  a  large 
city  is  the  chief  cause  of  disaster  to  his  life.  In  the 
last  century  Adam  Smith  pomted  out  the  perils  of 
city  life  which  beset  the  migrant  from  the  country, 
and  these  dangers  are  more  acute  now  than  they 
were  in  his  day.  "  A  man  of  rank  and  fortune,"  he 
says,  "  is  the  distinguished  member  of  a  great  society, 
who  attend  to  every  part  of  his  conduct,  and  thereby 
oblige  him  to  attend  to  every  part  of  it  himself  His 
authority  and  consideration  depend  very  much  upon 
the  respect  which  this  society  bears  to  him.  He  dare 
not  do  anything  which  would  disgrace  or  discredit 
him  in  it,  and  he  is  obliged  to  a  very  strict  observa- 
tion of  that  species  of  morals,  whether  liberal  or 
austere,  which  the  general  consent  of  this  society 
prescribes  to  persons  of  his  rank  and  fortune.  A 
man  of  low  condition,  on  the  contrary,  is  far  from 
being  a  distinguished  member  of  any  great  society. 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  3 1 

While  he  remains  in  a  country  village  his  conduct 
may  be  attended  to,  and  he  may  be  obliged  to  attend 
to  it  himself.  In  this  situation,  and  in  this  situation 
only,  he  may  have  what  is  called  a  character  to  lose. 
But  as  soon  as  he  comes  into  a  great  city  he  is  sunk 
in  obscurity  and  darkness.  His  conduct  is  observed 
and  attended  to  by  nobody,  and  he  is  therefore 
very  likely  to  neglect  it  himself,  and  to  abandon 
himself  to  every  sort  of  low  profligacy  and  vice." 

In  addition  to  the  causes  already  mentioned  a 
dense  population  heightens  the  proportion  of  offenders 
to  the  population,  inasmuch  as  it  intensifies  the 
struggle  for  existence,  whilst  its  glare  and  glitter 
excite  the  desire  to  enjoy.  Nowhere  is  competition 
so  keen  as  in  densely  packed  centres  ;  nowhere  is 
a  man  so  disposed  to  push  aside  his  neighbour  ; 
nowhere  is  consideration  for  others  at  a  lower  level. 
In  a  large  city  the  old  disposition  to  regard  the 
stranger  with  suspicion,  if  not  as  an  enemy,  is  to  a 
large  extent  revived,  and  as  each  citizen  is  a  stranger 
to  the  other  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  live  in  an 
atmosphere  of  suspicion  and  distrust.  These  con- 
ditions of  existence  are  destructive  of  social  cohesion 
in  its  highest  forms,  and  have  a  tendency  to  develop 
the  selfish  instincts  till  they  overstep  the  borderland 
which  separates  selfishness  from  crime.  Another 
important  reason  of  the  high  percentage  of  juvenile 
offences  in  large  cities  is  the  cupidity  excited  in  the 
young  mind  by  the  spectacle  of  so  vast  an  amount 
of  wealth  around.  Most  of  the  juvenile  offences 
committed  in  tiiis  country  arise  from  cupidity,  and 
consist  of  offences  against  property.     The  strongest 


32  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

temptation  of  the  ordinary  juvenile  is  the  impulse  to 
steal  ;  in  the  towns  this  impulse  is  stimulated  in 
every  street  by  interminable  lines  of  shops  and 
warehouses  exhibiting  all  kinds  of  merchandise  in  a 
half-protected  state.  These  temptations  are  almost 
irresistible  to  the  homeless  arab,  the  youth  who  is 
temporarily  out  of  work,  and  a  considerable  class  of 
children  whose  moral  sense  is  either  untrained  or 
undeveloped.  Opportunity  is  the  greatest  of  all 
temptations,  comparative  impunity  is  the  next,  and 
with  the  combination  of  opportunity  and  impunity 
which  exists  so  widely  in  all  large  centres  it  is  no 
wonder  that  they  are  hotbeds  of  youthful  crime. 

From  a  moral  point  of  view  it  is  unquestionable 
that  the  decentralisation  of  industry  is  one  of  the 
most  needed  of  present-day  reforms.  Cases  occur 
from  time  to  time  in  which  large  manufacturing 
establishments  are  transferred  from  the  cities  to  the 
country,  and  wherever  such  transfers  are  practicable 
an  immense  amount  of  benefit  immediately  accrues 
to  society  in  general.  Some  look  forward  to  a  time 
when  it  may  be  possible  to  transfer  mechanical  power 
to  the  remotest  country  districts,  and  in  this  way 
revive  many  rural  industries  which  are  at  present 
languishing  or  extinct.  Whether  this  expectation 
will  ever  become  a  reality  it  is  impossible  to  say  ; 
thus  far  the  progress  of  mechanical  invention  has 
had  the  effect  of  concentrating  our  population  and 
centralising  our  industries,  much  to  the  detriment  of 
the  moral  and  physical  stamina  of  the  race.  It  is 
highly  questionable  whether  the  enormous  increase 
of  national  wealth  which  this  century  has  witnessed 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  33 

is  not  being  purchased  at  too  high  a  price.  If  we 
compare  the  mortahty  of  the  industrial  population 
which  produce  this  wealth  with  the  mortality  of  the 
agricultural  population  it  at  once  becomes  apparent 
that  our  vast  national  accumulations  have  to  be  paid 
for  by  a  frightful  shortening  and  sacrifice  of  human 
life.  In  a  world  such  as  ours,  where  in  international 
matters  might  is  right,  it  is  highly  perilous  to  under- 
mine the  vitality  of  a  nation  merely  in  order  to  make 
its  population  somewhat  more  opulent.  There  is 
considerable  reason  to  fear  that  this  is  the  baleful 
process  at  present  in  operation  in  our  midst.  The 
true  policy  for  a  nation  desirous  of  remaining  great 
is  to  give  most  encouragement  to  those  occupations 
which  produce  the  most  vigorous  class  of  citizens. 
In  the  decade  1881-90  there  was  an  annual  average 
of  117  deaths  in  the  towns  to  every  100  deaths  in 
the  country  ;  it  is  the  country,  accordingly,  which 
contains  the  most  vital  elements  of  the  population, 
and  the  supreme  aim  of  statesmanship  at  the  present 
time  should  be  directed  towards  the  establishment  of 
a  hardy  and  enterprising  race  upon  the  soil.  Just 
now  our  rural  classes  are  sunk  in  poverty  and 
pauperism,  but  in  spite  of  these  tremendous  draw- 
backs they  are  a  more  robust  and  less  criminal 
population  than  the  dwellers  in  the  towns.  What 
might  they  not  become  if  these  drawbacks  could  be 
to  some  extent  removed  and  a  modest  career  opened 
out  for  their  latent  energy  and  enterprise  ?  In  any 
case  it  is  to  measures  of  this  character  that  we 
must  look  for  a  reduction  in  the  proportions  of 
youthful  crime. 


34  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

In  the  preceding  remarks  on  the  local  distribution 
of  juvenile  offences  it  has   been   seen  that   there  is 
evidently  a  close  connection  between  juvenile  crime 
and    density    of    population,    and    it    has    also    been 
shown  that  there  is  an  intimate  relation  between  the 
proportions  of  juvenile  and  adult  crime  in  the  several 
geographical    divisions    of   England    and  Wales.     It 
still  remains  for  us  to  inquire  whether  there  is  the 
same   intimate    connection  between   the   local  distri- 
bution  of  pauperism    and    the    local    distribution   of 
juvenile    delinquency.     In   other  words,   do  we  find 
that  there  is  a  high  ratio  of  pauperism  where  there 
is  a  high   percentage  of  juvenile  offenders  ?     Were 
there  no  means  of  answering  this  important  question 
except  by  consulting  our  own  intuitions  we  should 
probably  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  pauperism  and 
juvenile  crime  run  hand  in  hand,  and  that  therefore 
the   ratio  of   pauperism   to  the   population   must  be 
high  where    the    ratio   of   juvenile  offences   is    high. 
This  is  an  exceedingly  plausible  conclusion,  but  it  is 
not  justified    by   the   official   returns   of    the    Local 
Government    Board.      According   to    these    returns 
the  connection  between  pauperism  and  crime,  so  far 
as  it  exists,  does  not  lie  upon  the  surface.     In  fact, 
so   much    is   this   the   case  that  when   we  begin   to 
compare    the    distribution    of    pauperism     with    the 
distribution    of    crime,    both   juvenile   and    adult,    it 
immediately  becomes  manifest   that  as   a  rule  there 
is  least  pauperism  where  there  is  most  crime,  and  of 
course  least  crime  where  there  is  most  pauperism. 

Let  us  select  a  few  examples  of  this  condition  of 
things.     On  the  ist  of  January,  1892,  the  number  of 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  35 

paupers  in  England  and  Wales  per  thousand  of 
the  estimated  population  amounted  to  26.2.  Below 
this  av^erage  for  the  whole  country  are  the  counties 
of  Lancaster,  Chester,  Northumberland,  Warwick, 
Middlesex,  Durham,  and  several  others.  Now  it  is  a 
remarkable  circumstance  that  all  the  counties  which 
have  just  been  mentioned  as  showing  a  percentage 
of  pauperism  below  the  average,  at  the  same  time 
exhibit  a  percentage  of  juvenile  crime,  and  of  crime 
in  general,  above  the  average.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  we  look  at  the  counties  which  are  most  burdened 
with  pauperism,  we  find  that  a  very  large  proportion 
of  them  are  counties  with  a  very  small  percentage 
of  either  juvenile  or  adult  crime.  In  the  counties  of 
Norfolk,  Dorset,  and  in  North  Wales,  which  contain 
more  than  40  paupers  per  thousand  of  the  population, 
there  is  not  half  as  much  crime  of  any  description 
as  exists  in  counties  containing  less  than  20  paupers 
per  thousand  of  the  population.  The  county  which 
shows  the  lowest  percentage  of  pauperism  is  the 
county  of  Lancaster,  but  it  is  nevertheless  the 
district  which  has  the  highest  ratio  of  juvenile 
crime.  The  county  of  Norfolk  has  the  largest 
number  of  paupers  per  thousand  of  the  popula- 
tion, but  it  has  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
juvenile  offenders. 

What  are  the  most  probable  causes  of  this  re- 
markable disparity  between  the  ratio  of  pauperism 
and  the  ratio  of  crime?  In  addition  to  the  causes 
already  noted  as  producing  a  high  rate  of  crime  in 
large  centres  of  population,  the  method  of  adminis- 
tering the  poor  law  requires  to  be  mentioned.     In 


2,6  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

order  to  prevent  wholesale  imposture  the  guardians 
of  the  poor  in  our  densely  populated  districts  are 
obliged  to  administer  the  law  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  on  certain  hard  and  fast  principles.  It  is 
almost  impossible  for  them  to  know  the  real  ante- 
cedents of  a  large  proportion  of  the  applicants  for 
relief,  and  one  of  the  inevitable  results  of  this  lack 
of  accurate  information  respecting  the  cases  which 
come  before  them  is  that  applications  for  poor-law 
relief  are,  as  a  rule,  dealt  with  more  rigidly  in  towns 
than  in  the  country.  It  is  therefore  probable  that 
the  refusal  of  assistance,  or  the  knowledge  that 
assistance  will  be  refused  if  applied  for,  while  it 
has  the  effect  of  reducing  the  numbers  on  the 
poor  rate  in  our  large  cities,  has .  also  the  effect 
of  swelling  the  proportions  of  crime  in  them.  In 
the  country  districts,  on  the  other  hand,  the  poor 
law  is  administered  by  persons  possessing  an  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  real  economic  circumstances 
and  antecedents  of  almost  all  applicants  for  assistance. 
These  applicants,  unlike  the  city  poor,  are  not  a 
floating  population  which  are  here  to-day  and  some- 
where else  to-morrow ;  they  are  not  composed  of 
people  for  the  most  part  without  a  history  or  a 
settled  home.  Almost  all  of  them  have  resided  from 
childhood  upwards  in  the  same  village  or  the  same 
neighbourhood.  It  is  easy  to  trace  their  previous 
history,  and  to  acquire  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
their  character,  their  habits,  and  the  most  important 
vicissitudes  in  their  humble  career.  It  would  appear 
that  this  intimate  and  minute  acquaintance  with  all 
the   details   and    circumstances   of    each   case    is   of 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  JUVENILE   CRIME.  37 

considerable  importance  in  connection  with  poor- 
law  administration — in  fact,  it  is  probably  a  partial 
explanation  of  the  difference  in  the  ratio  of  pauperism 
in  the  agricultural  districts  as  compared  with  com- 
mercial and  industrial  centres.  Inasmuch  as  it  leaves 
the  greater  poverty  of  the  agricultural  labourer  out 
of  account,  as  well  as  his  immemorial  attitude  towards 
the  poor  law,  this  explanation  is  obviously  of  a 
partial  character.  Nevertheless  it  counts  for  some- 
thing ;  and,  as  far  as  crime  is  concerned,  the  fact  that 
the  distribution  of  poor-law  relief  is  more  general  in 
the  country  than  in  the  towns  is  undoubtedly  to  be 
reckoned  as  one  among  the  many  reasons  why  the 
country  population  is  less  criminally  disposed  than 
the  urban  population. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  supposed  that  a  more 
rigid  administration  of  the  poor-law  system  in  the 
country  districts  will  have  the  effect  of  raising  the 
rate  of  crime  to  the  same  high  level  as  exists  in 
towns.  If  crime  were  merely  a  product  of  poverty 
this  would  no  doubt  be  the  case,  but  it  is  a  well- 
ascertained  fact  that  a  multitude  of  offences  against 
the  criminal  law  are  not  the  result  of  economic 
causes.  Innate  disposition,  parental  example,  social 
surroundings,  social  habits,  the  presence  of  tempta- 
tion and  opportunity,  all  play  a  more  or  less  promi- 
nent part  in  determining  the  extent  and  intensity 
of  crime.  Several  of  these  causes  operate  much  more 
powerfully  in  the  towns  than  in  the  country.  As 
far  as  the  amount  of  crime  is  concerned  there  is 
accordingly  every  reason  to  believe  that  densely 
populated  centres  will  always  be  at  a  disadvantage 


38  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

as  compared  with  thinly  peopled  districts.  Offences 
against  the  person,  for  instance,  are  very  seldom 
the  direct  result  of  economic  causes.  Owing  to 
the  extensive  opportunities  for  contact  and  conflict 
arising  out  of  the  existence  of  a  highly  concen- 
trated population,  offences  of  this  character  are  more 
numerous  in  towns,  in  proportion  to  the  inhabitants, 
than  in  the  country.  It  is  the  same  with  drunken- 
ness. The  opportunities  for  becoming  intoxicated 
are  much  greater  in  towns  than  in  the  country, 
inasmuch  as  the  public-house  is  almost  always  closer 
at  hand.  Offences  against  property  stand  upon  a 
somewhat  similar  footing.  The  opportunity  of  com- 
mitting such  offences,  and  therefore  the  temptation 
to  commit  them,  is  always  greater  in  towns  ;  the 
consequence  is  that  a  larger  number  are  committed 
by  the  town  populations.  These  examples  are  suffi- 
cient to  demonstrate  that  an  equalisation  of  the 
economic  conditions  of  existence  as  between  town 
and  country  would  not  necessarily  be  followed  by 
a  corresponding  equalisation  of  the  ratio  of  crime. 

On  summarising  the  results  of  this  inquiry  into 
the  local  distribution  of  juvenile  offences  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions  come  prominently  to  the  front. 
It  is  found,  in  the  first  place,  that  where  there  is  a 
high  rate  of  crime  in  general  there  is  also  a  corre- 
spondingly high  rate  of  juvenile  crime.  The  principal 
causes  of  this  coincidence  are  the  corruption  of  the 
young  by  the  old,  and  the  fact  that  both  adult  and 
juvenile  criminals  are  a  product  of  the  same  personal, 
social,  and  economic  circumstances.  In  the  second 
place,  it  is  found  that  the  personal,  social,  and  economic 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  JUVENILE    CRIME.  39 

conditions  which  generate  a  criminal  disposition  and 
criminal  habits  of  life  are  fostered  to  a  very  large 
extent  by  the  herding  together  of  the  population  in 
a  few  immense  commercial  and  industrial  centres. 
In  these  centres  a  decadent  race  springs  up,  owing 
to  the  unwholesome  conditions  of  existence ;  the 
struggle  for  life  is  keener  and  more  unscrupulous  ; 
cupidity  is  more  highly  and  frequently  excited  ;  a 
larger  homeless  population  exists  ;  men  are  more  in 
the  position  of  strangers  to  each  other,  and  offences 
are  less  easily  detected.  All  these  agencies,  working 
together,  have  the  effect  of  making  large  cities  the 
principal  hotbeds  of  delinquency.  The  third  con- 
clusion at  which  we  arrive  is  that  there  is  least  crime '/. 
where  there  is  most  pauperism.  This  remarkable 
state  of  things  is  in  part  to  be  accounted  for  on 
the  ground  that  a  wider  distribution  of  poor-law 
relief  has  the  effect  of  preventing  the  commission 
of  certain  kinds  of  offences,  inasmuch  as  the  relief 
received  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  fundamental 
requirements  of  life  among  that  class  of  the  com- 
munity which  is  most  tempted  to  become  criminal. 
But  this  explanation  only  covers  a  portion  of  the 
ground.  The  highest  ratio  of  pauperism  is  in  the 
country  districts.  If  the  death-rate  is  taken  as  a 
criterion,  there  is  not  so  much  decadence  among 
the  rural  population ;  there  is  a  smaller  homeless 
class  than  in  the  towns ;  there  is  more  regularity 
of  employment ;  there  is  less  chance  of  character 
being  vitiated ;  there  are  fewer  excitements  to 
cupidity,  and  there  is  a  greater  probability  that 
the  offender  will  be  arrested  and  brought  to  justice. 


40  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

It  follows  from  these  conclusions  that  the  most 
effective  methods  of  combating  juvenile  delinquency 
consist  in  improving  the  hygienic  surroundings  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  towns,  so  as  to  make  the 
urban  population  more  effective  instruments  for 
fighting  the  battle  of  life  in  an  honest  way,  and, 
in  the  second  place,  in  so  ameliorating  the  economic 
condition  of  the  rural  population  that  they  will  not 
be  tempted  to  forsake  the  comparative  wholesome- 
ness  of  the  country  for  the  temptations  and  vicissitudes 
of  the  town. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SEX  AND  JUVENILE  CRIME. 

Necessity  for  studying  the  conditions  which  produce  crime — Why 
penal  laws  fail — Conditions  which  produce  crime  of  two  kinds  : 
individual  and  social — Individual  conditions — The  effect  of  sex 
on  crime — Relation  between  male  and  female  crime  among 
juveniles  under  sixteen — Among  juveniles  under  twenty-one — 
Among  juveniles  in  reformatories — Among  juveniles  in  indus- 
trial schools — Sex  and  juvenile  crime  in  the  United  States — 
Causes  of  the  unequal  distribution  of  crime  among  the  sexes  : 
I.  The  law  more  lenient  to  females  than  to  males ;  2.  Social 
and  economic  conditions  of  the  sexes  differ  ;  3.  Biological 
conditions  of  the  sexes  differ — Effect  of  sex  on  the  nature  of 
crime— The  character  of  female  offenders — The  offence  as  an 
index  of  the  character  of  the  offender — The  habit  of  offending 
as  an  index  of  character — Value  of  knowing  previous  character 
in  dealing  with  juveniles — Summary  of  conclusions. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  inquired  into  the 
extent  and  local  distribution  of  juvenile  delinquency. 
Our  next  step  will  consist  of  an  inquiry  into  the  indi- 
vidual conditions  of  the  juvenile  delinquent.  Crime 
of  all  kinds  is  a  product  of  certain  antecedent  con- 
ditions residing  partly  in  the  individual  and  partly 
in  his  surroundings.  All  attempts  at  dealing  with 
criminal  problems  which  take  no  account  of  the 
conditions  which  tend  to  produce  the  criminal 
population   are  predestined    to   failure.     One  of  the 

41 


42  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

principal  reasons  our  penal  laws  have  hitherto  been 
so  ineffective  in  diminishing  the  proportions  of  crime 
is  that  these  laws  have  practically  ignored  the  indi- 
vidual and  social  conditions  on  which  the  movement 
of  crime  depends.  An  enactment  directed  against 
a  certain  kind  of  crime  will  in  the  end  have  com- 
paratively little  effect  in  diminishing  its  amount  if 
the  antecedent  conditions  which  produce  the  crime 
remain  untouched.  In  the  same  manner  a  mode  of 
punishment  directed  against  a  certain  form  of  crime 
will  do  no  good  if  the  punishment  has  the  effect  of 
intensifying  and  aggravating  the  adverse  individual 
and  social  conditions  of  the  person  who  has  com- 
mitted the  offence.  In  order  to  reduce  the  pro- 
portions of  crime  we  must  first  of  all  diminish  the 
adverse  conditions  which  produce  it.  In  these 
circumstances  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  ascertain 
what  the  individual  and  social  conditions  are  which 
produce  the  criminal  population.  If  we  know  what 
these  conditions  are  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to 
see  how  far  they  are  capable  of  being  removed  or 
minimised.  In  the  same  proportion  as  they  can 
be  removed  or  minimised  the  criminal  population 
will  decrease.     Cessante  causa,  cessat  effeckis. 

Let  us  look,  in  the  first  place,  at  the  individual 
conditions  on  which  juvenile  crime  depends.  These 
conditions  may  be  comprehensively  described  as 
consisting  of  sex,  age,  body,  and  mind.  Before 
dealing  with  these  conditions  in  detail  it  must  be 
recollected  that  juvenile  crime  is  never  the  result 
of  a  single  individual  cause,  or  even  of  a  combinatioi 
of  them.     Juvenile   crime,  as  well    as   crime   of  all 


SEJC  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  43 

kinds,  is  the  result  of  individual  and  social  conditions 
acting  in  combination.  In  discussing  juvenile  crime 
the  conditions  which  produce  it  are  separated  and 
looked  at  singly  for  purposes  of  exposition,  but  they 
are  not  to  be  considered  as  separated  in  reality.  In 
each  particular  crime  one  condition  may  be  more 
prominent  than  another,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
crime  is  the  result  of  a  combination  of  conditions. 
As  sex  is  the  most  fundamental  of  all  individual 
distinctions,  let  us  deal  first  with  the  effect  of  sex 
on  juvenile  crime.  How  is  juvenile  crime  distributed 
among  the  two  sexes  ?  We  can  get  an  answer  to 
this  question  in  a  variety  of  ways.  In  the  first  place 
we  may  consult  the  police  returns  relating  to  the 
number  of  juvenile  criminals  at  large  under  sixteen 
years  of  age.  As  an  accurate  representation  of  the 
actual  number  of  juvenile  offenders  at  large  these 
returns  possess  exceedingly  little  value.  At  the 
same  time  they  are  useful  as  a  means  of  ascertaining 
in  what  proportions  crime  is  distributed  among  the 
sexes.  The  causes  which  invalidate  their  accuracy 
as  a  trustworthy  statement  of  the  numbers  of  the 
criminal  classes  at  large  do  not  come  into  operation 
as  far  as  the  sex  of  these  classes  is  concerned.  For 
this  reason  the  proportion  of  males  to  females  among 
the  juveniles  reported  by  the  police  as  habitual 
offenders  is  of  considerable  utility  as  a  test  of  the 
effect  of  sex  on  crime.  According  to  the  police 
about  85  per  cent,  of  the  habitual  offenders  under 
sixteen  are  males,  and  15  per  cent,  females.  If  these 
returns  are  to  be  accepted  as  approximately  accurate 
— and  they  are  supported  by  other  returns  which  are 


,v 


44  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

less  open  to  question — the  effect  of  sex  on  the 
tendency  to  commit  or  abstain  from  crime  is  very 
conspicuous.  The  accident  of  sex  and  the  attributes 
of  sex  make  it  between  five  and  six  times  more 
likely  that  a  boy  will  become  a  criminal  than  a  girl. 
-A  fact  of  this  kind  is  conclusive  evidence  that  human 
conduct  is  to  some  extent  determined  by  causes 
which  lie  outside  the  control  of  the  individual.     Sex 

one  of  these  causes. 

When  we  examine  the  returns  relating  to  the  sex 
of  offenders  convicted  under  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
and  which  are  of  a  more  accurate  character  than 
the  police  returns,  we  find  that  crime  is  distributed 
among  the  sexes  in  the  proportion  of  thirteen  females 
to  eighty-seven  males.  In  reformatory  institutions 
crime  is  distributed  among  the  sexes  in  the  pro- 
portion of  twelve  females  to  eighty-eight  males.  In 
industrial  schools  the  distribution  of  the  population 
according  to  sex  is  somewhat  different.  In  these 
institutions  there  are  twenty-four  females  to  seventy- 
six  males.  The  relatively  high  ratio  of  females  to 
males  in  industrial  schools  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  character  of  the  offences  for  which  large  numbers 
of  children  are  committed  to  industrial  establish- 
ments. These  offences  are  in  a  great  many  cases 
of  a  passive  rather  than  an  active  character.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  the  proportion  of  girls  in 
industrial  schools  is  so  much  higher  than  the  pro- 
portion of  girls  in  reformatory  schools.  In  the 
United  States  the  juvenile  population  of  the  re- 
formatories is  divided  by  sex  in  much  the  same 
proportions  as  the  juvenile  population   in   industrial 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  45 

schools  in  Great  Britain.  According  to  the  results 
of  the  census  of  1890,  22  per  cent,  of  the  reformatory 
inmates  were  females,  and  78  per  cent,  were  males. 
The  high  percentage  of  females  in  the  United  States 
reformatories  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  American 
judiciary  are  very  unwilling  to  commit  girls  to  prison 
under  the  age  of  twenty-one.  The  prisons  of  the 
United  States  only  contained  7  per  cent,  of  female 
prisoners  under  twenty-one,  while  English  prisons 
contain  about  16  per  cent,  of  females  under  the  age 
of  twenty-one.  In  other  words,  American  magistrates 
commit  females  under  age  to  reformatories  in  a  great 
many  cases  where  English  magistrates  would  commit 
them  to  prison.  In  America  the  law  deals  more 
leniently  with  females  than  in  England.  The  small 
number  of  females  in  prison  and  the  high  ratio  in 
reformatories,  as  compared  with  England,  is  a  proof 
of  it. 

The  effect  of  sex  on  the  disposition  to  obey  or 
offend  against  the  criminal  law  is  manifest  not  only 
in  England  and  the  United  States  but  all  over  the 
civilised  world.  In  every  continental  country  males 
form  a  larger  proportion  than  females  among  juvenile 
offenders  ;  and  in  Australia  the  position  of  affairs  is 
precisely  the  same.  It  must,  therefore,  be  admitted 
that  we  are  not  merely  in  presence  of  temporary  and 
accidental  circumstances,  but  are  in  reality  confronted 
with  a  universal  law.  Wherever  we  cast  our  eyes 
this  law  holds  good  ;  everywhere  we  find  that  females, 
whether  juveniles  or  adults,  are  less  addicted  to  crime 
than  males.  How  is  the  difference  between  male  and 
female  criminality  to  be  accounted  for  ?  It  is  some- 
5 


4^  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

times  asserted  that  this  difference  is,  after  all,  more 
apparent  than  real,  and  the  foundation  for  this  view 
is  that  female  offenders  are  more  leniently  dealt  with 
tUan  male  offenders.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there 
is  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in  this  contention.  In 
the  English  criminal  courts  male  offenders  are 
acquitted  in  the  proportion  of  one  in  six,  whereas 
female  offenders  are  acquitted  in  the  proportion  of 
one  in  four.  If  it  is  assumed,  and  there  is  every 
reason  for  assuming,  that  the  evidence  on  which  the 
criminal  charge  is  founded  is  as  strong  in  the  case  of 
women  as  in  the  case  of  men,  it  inevitably  follows 
that  the  machinery  of  the  criminal  law  is  more 
indulgent  to  women  than  to  men.  In  other  words, 
a  woman  with  precisely  the  same  weight  of  testimony 
against  her  is  much  more  likely  to  be  let  off  than 
a  man.  It  is  very  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
leniency  of  the  criminal  courts  towards  female 
offenders  has  its  counterpart  in  the  whole  sphere 
of  criminal  administration  and  even  of  social  life. 
The  public  are  less  disposed  to  make  charges  of 
a  criminal  character  against  the  female  part  of  the 
population,  the  police  and  other  authorities  are  less 
inclined  to  make  charges,  and  the  result  is  that 
criminal  statistics  do  not  adequately  represent  the 
full  dimensions  of  female  delinquency.  Admitting 
the  justice  of  these  contentions  to  the  utmost,  and 
even  multiplying  female  offences  by  one-third,  the 
fact  still  comes  out  that  females  are  less  addicted  to 
crime  than  males.  We  are  accordingly  justified  in 
saying  that  the  indulgence  of  the  public  and  the 
administration  to  female  offenders  will  not  explain 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  4/ 

the   whole  circumstances,  although   it   does  explain 
a  certain  part  of  them. 

Another  explanation  of  the  difference  between 
male  and  female  delinquency  consists  in  attributing 
the  disparity  to  the  action  of  social  influences. 
Women,  it  is  said,  have  fewer  opportunities  of  be- 
coming criminal  offenders,  owing  to  the  nature  of 
,  the  social  conditions  which  keep  them  out  of  contact 
-^vith  many  of  the  hard  realities  of  existence.  The 
circle  of  female  activity  is  in  the  majority  of  cases 
bounded  by  the  precincts  of  the  home.  This  sphere 
offers  far  fewer  opportunities  for  the  commission  of 
criminal  offences  than  the  wide  field  of  social  and 
industrial  life  which  is  occupied  by  men.  In  fact,  it 
is  always  found  that  when  women  enter  this  field  in 
considerable  numbers  the  percentage  of  female  crime 
has  a  distinct  tendency  to  increase  ;  the  equalisation 
of  social  and  economic  conditions  ,as  between  man 
and  woman  has  the  effect  of  bringing  the  proportions 
of  male  and  female  crime  nearer  to  the  point  of 
equality.  In  the  Metropolitan  Police  district  a  fourth 
of  the  offences  determined  summarily  are  committed 
by  females  ;  in  Manchester  a  third  are  committed  by 
females.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  county  of  Surrey, 
outside  the  Metropolitan  Police  district,  little  more 
than  a  tenth  of  the  summary  offences  are  committed 
by  females,  and  in  the  county  of  Lancaster  little 
more  than  a  seventh  are  committed  by  females.  In 
the  metropolis  and  in  Manchester,  where  the  economic 
conditions  of  the  sexes  are  to  some  extent  equalised, 
the  result  of  this  partial  equalisation  is  immediately 
manifested  in  a  nearer  approach  to  equality  in  anti- 


48  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

social  action.  In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
these  great  centres  where  this  equahsation  of  social 
condition  does  not  exist  in  the  same  degree,  the 
effect  is  seen  in  the  much  smaller  proportion  of 
female  offenders.  On  these  grounds  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  extent  of  female  crime  is  deter- 
mined, among  other  things,  by  the  social  conditions 
of  female  existence,  and  that  these  conditions  are  on 
the  whole  more  favourable  to  a  non-criminal  life  than 
the  conditions  which  affect  men. 

Nevertheless,  the  whole  of  the  disparity  between 
the  criminal  tendencies  of  the  sexes  is  not  to  be  ex- 
plained by  a  reference  to  the  disparate  nature  of  their 
social  functions.  Difference  of  social  function  is  itself 
a  product  of  biological  causes,  and  it  is  to  these  causes 
that  we  must  look  for  a  complete  explanation  of  the 
effect  of  sex  on  crime.  Women  are  less  criminal  than 
men  because  their  physical  and  mental  structure  is 
different.  The  effect  of  this  difference  is  seen  in 
cases  where  the  social  and  economic  conditions  of 
the  two  sexes  are  almost  entirely  the  same.  Up  to 
the  age  of  fourteen  the  social  and  economic  circum- 
stances of  the  boys  and  girls  who  are  committed  to 
industrial  schools  are  practically  alike.  They  are 
brought  up  in  the  same  class  of  home,  they  attend 
the  same  kind  of  school,  they  are  allowed  a  similar 
amount  of  liberty,  they  live  amid  the  same  social 
surroundings.  Yet  we  find  that  about  five  boys  are 
sent  to  an  industrial  school  to  one  girl.  It  is  evident 
from  this  fact  that  social  and  economic  causes  will 
not  explain  the  difference  between  male  and  female 
criminality  ;  these  causes  are  of  a  still  more  funda- 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  49 

mental  character  ;  they  are  rooted  in  the  organism 
as  well  as  its  environment.  According  to  the  teach- 
ings of  physiology  the  structure  and  constitution  of 
the  female  sex  are  of  such  a  character  as  makes  them 
less  fitted  for  great  bodily  and  mental  exertion  than 
men.  The  female  bent  of  mind  is  less  active,  less 
aggressive,  less  liable  to  come  into  conflict  with  the 
established  institutions  of  society,  and  therefore  less  " 
criminal.  It  follows  from  these  facts  that  the  effect 
of  sex  on  crime  is  an  effect  which  will  be  permanent. 
_^t  is  an  effect  which  is  not  resting  on  transitory  . 
causes  such  as  education  or  social  habits  and  con- 
ditions, which  the  march  of  civilisation  may  modify 
or  revolutionise  ;  it  is  resting  on  foundations  anterior 
both  to  civilisation  and  humanity,  and  will  continue 
to  manifest  itself  as  long  as  the  race  endures. 

The  effect  of  sex  on  the  nature  of  adult  crime  is  % 
perfectly  obvious.  All  offences  requiring  the  exercise 
of  muscular  force  and  mental  daring  are  to  a  pre- 
ponderating extent  the  work  of  men,  while  offences 
in  which  masculine  qualities  are  not  required  are 
considerably  participated  in  by  women.  The  annals 
of  juvenile  delinquency  reveal  a  very  similar  con- 
dition of  things.  Of  all  the  females  committed  to 
reformatory  schools  in  the  year  1894  only  two  were 
sent  for  offences  against  the  person^,  and  a  very  small 
fraction  for  offences  against  property  with  violence. 
On  the  other  hand,  several  boys  were  committed  to 
these  institutions  for  offences  against  the  person,  and 
a  fair  percentage  for  burglary  and  housebreaking. 
The  offences  in  which  girls  reach  more  nearly  to  the 
level  of  boys  are  fraud,  the  unlawful  possession  of 


50  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

property,  and  domestic  theft.  Offences  of  this  cha- 
racter are,  partly  for  social  reasons  and  partly  for 
biological,  more  apt  to  be  committed  by  girls.  The 
social  danger  arising  from  the  commission  of  offences 
against  the  person  by  girls  is  practically  non-existent, 
and  the  same  may  be  said  with  respect  to  offences 
against  property  with  violence.  Petty  theft  and 
vagrancy-  constitute  the  great  bulk  of  delinquency 
among  female  juveniles.  The  nature  of  the  offences 
committed  by  girls  sent  to  reformatories  in  the 
United  States  is  very  much  the  same  as  the  nature 
of  the  offences  committed  by  girls  in  England.  The 
only  difference  is  that  there  is  perhaps  a  somewhat 
larger  proportion  of  crimes  of  violence,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  reformatories  are  used  for  females  who 
have  reached  maturity,  whilst  in  England  they  are 
only  used  for  girls  under  sixteen. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  character  of 
females  committed  to  reformatory  and  industrial 
schools  is  better  than  the  character  of  boys.  The 
lighter  nature  of  the  offences  for  which  girls  are  as  a 
rule  committed  is  apt  to  produce  the  impression  that 
the  criminal  bent  is  less  pronounced  in  them  than  in 
boys,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  this  impression  is  an 
erroneous  one.  The  very  circumstance  that  girls  do 
not  in  general  commit  such  serious  offences  as  boys 
has  the  effect  in  a  multitude  of  cases  of  causing  these 
offences  to  be  condoned  and  overlooked.  Very  often 
this  method  of  treatment  is  more  or  less  successful, 
but  in  those  instances  where  it  happens  to  fail  the 
ultimate  result  is  that  a  girl  is  a  more  hardened 
offender  than  a  boy  before  she  is  committed  to  an 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  $1 

industrial  or  reformatory  institution.  She  enjoys  a 
longer  period  of  comparative  impunity  ;  she  has 
accordingly  more  time  to  form  criminal  habits,  and 
when  ultimately  taken  in  hand  by  reformative 
agencies  her  character  has  become  considerably 
depraved.  In  addition  to  this  the  criminal  character 
of  an  offender  is  not  always  to  be  estimated  by  the 
nature  of  the  offence.  A  very  serious  offence  is 
sometimes  committed  by  a  juvenile  whose  character 
is  by  no  means  deeply  penetrated  by  criminal  in- 
stincts and  impulses,  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
often  witness  a  strongly  marked  criminal  disposition 
in  juveniles  convicted  of  comparatively  trivial  offences. 
The  nature  of  an  offence  for  which  a  juvenile  is 
convicted  must  not  in  most  cases  be  considered  by 
itself  as  a  satisfactory  index  of  character  and  dis- 
position. The  character  of  the  offender  is  manifested 
much  more  accurately  by  the  habit  of  offending  than 
by  the  nature  of  the  offence.  It  is  true  that  criminal 
statistics  do  not  show  that  girls  have  contracted 
criminal  habits  before  committal  to  reformatory  and 
industrial  schools  to  a  larger  extent  than  boys,  but 
the  statistics  of  previous  convictions  are  at  present 
exceedingly  imperfect,  and  are  practically  worthless 
as  a  test  of  the  previous  career  of  the  juvenile 
offender.  But  even  if  these  statistics  were  correct, 
they  would  only  relate  the  number  of  times  a  female 
offender  had  come  before  the  magistrate  and  been 
convicted.  They  would  still  be  silent  respecting  the 
number  of  times  the  offender  had  not  been  taken 
before  a  magistrate  at  all,  but  had  been  pardoned  on 
the  score  of  sex  and  youth. 


52  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

/  That  the  habit  of  offending  is,  as  a  rule,  more 
deeply  seated  among  incriminated  girls  than  boys, 
and  that  the  character  of  such  girls  is  therefore 
worse,  although  the  nature  of  their  offences  is  lighter, 
may  be  seen  by  looking  at  the  relative  percentage 
of  boys  and  girls  who  do  badly  after  discharge 
from  reformatory  and  industrial  schools.  In  the 
three  years  1888-90,  out  of  a  total  of  4,258  juveniles 
of  both  sexes  liberated  from  reformatory  schools, 
79  per  cent,  of  the  boys  are  reported  as  doing  well, 
but  only  ^6  per  cent  of  the  girls.  The  remaining 
cases  were  unknown  or  doubtful,  or  had  been  again 
convicted.  The  number  of  juveniles  liberated  from 
industrial  schools  during  the  three  years  1888-90 
amounted  to  11,396.  Out  of  this  number  86  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  were  doing  well  and  83  per  cent,  of 
the  girls.  It  is  thus  evident  that  both  in  reformatory 
and  industrial  institutions  the  number  of  girls  who 
fail  after  they  leave  them  is  in  excess  of  the  boys. 
As  I  can  see  no  reason  why  there  should  be  a  greater 
innate  difficulty  in  reforming  girls  than  boys,  and  as 
the  social  conditions  amid  which  both  sexes  are 
placed  after  discharge  are  perhaps  more  favourable 
to  girls  than  to  boys,  the  only  conclusion  to  be  drawn 
from  the  larger  percentage  of  failures  among  girls  is 
the  conclusion  that,  as  a  rule,  they  have  become  more 
habituated  to  crime  before  regenerative  influences  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  them,  and  are  therefore  more 
difficult  to  reclaim. 

At  present  an  accurate  record  of  the  past  career  of 
juvenile  offenders  is  not  kept,  on  the  ground,  no  doubt, 
that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  preserve  an  account  of 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  53 

the  trivial  offences  of  the  young.  From  a  superficial 
point  of  view  this  method,  or  rather  want  of  method, 
has  a  good  deal  to  commend  it,  but  looked  at  in  the 
light  of  the  future  welfare  of  the  child  it  is  often 
productive  of  disastrous  consequences.  The  result 
of  a  defective  system  of  registering  recidivism  is  that 
many  children  develop  into  habitual  offenders  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  magistrates  who  are  called 
upon  from  time  to  time  to  deal  with  them.  Offences 
which  have  become  a  habit  are  accordingly  regarded 
as  first  offences,  and  in  many  instances  the  offender 
passes  through  a  prolonged  period  of  impunity,  which 
has  the  ultimate  effect  of  leading  to  a  career  of 
habitual  crime.  For  reasons  which  have  already 
been  referred  to  this  period  of  comparative  impunity 
is  usually  more  prolonged  in  the  case  of  girls  than 
in  the  case  of  boys,  and  although  it  is  more  humane 
for  the  moment  it  is  sometimes  more  disastrous  in 
the  end.  The  treatment  of  the  young  should  be 
regulated  in  accordance  with  the  assured  results  of 
experience,  and  one  of  the  most  assured  of  these 
results  is  that  the  custom  of  allowing  a  longer  period 
of  impunity  to  a  girl  than  a  boy  makes  it  more  diffi- 
cult to  improve  the  character  of  the  former  when  this 
task  has  at  last  to  be  taken  in  hand.  The  evil  effects 
of  too  prolonged  impunity  is  seen  not  only  in  the 
percentage  of  failures  among  girls  who  pass  through 
our  reformatory  and  industrial  schools,  but  also  in  the 
high  ratio  of  incorrigible  girls  among  the  inmates  of 
these  institutions.  One  of  the  witnesses  before  "the 
Reformatory  and  Industrial  Schools  Commission 
estimated  the  number  of  incorrigibles  at  her  school 


54  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

as  amounting  to  from  8  to  lo  per  cent.  At  none  of 
the  reformatories  for  male  children  is  the  percentage 
so  high.  This  in  all  probability  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  fact  that  the  reformation  of  boys  is  undertaken 
before  they  have  become  so  much  habituated  to  crime. 
In  the  interest  of  the  youthful  population,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  interest  of  girls,  it  is  of  vital  importance 
that  as  accurate  a  record  as  possible  should  be  kept 
of  their  previous  conduct.  The  existence  of  such  a 
record  would  be  more  or  less  of  a  key  to  the  perma- 
nent dispositions  of  the  offender ;  it  would  help  the 
magistrates  to  distinguish  between  transitory  ebulli- 
tions and  abiding  tendencies  ;  it  would  enable  them 
to  send  the  right  class  of  children  to  reformative 
institutions,  and  it  would  prevent  many  children  from 
being  sent  to  these  institutions  at  all. 

-*A  "summary  review  of  this  inquiry  into  the  effect  of 

sex  on  juvenile  delinquency  shows  in  the  first  place 

that  girls  are  less  liable  to  come  within  the  clutches 

of  the  criminal  law  than  boys.     It  also  shows  that 

this  state  of  things  exists  not  only  in  England  and 

_  the  United  States,  but  all  over  the  civilised  world. 

/  The  causes  of  this  difference  in  the  criminal  dispo- 

/  sition  of  the  two  sexes  are  not  to  be  explained  by  the 

\  fact  that  females  are  more  leniently  dealt  with  than 

males,  or  that  the  difference  is  a  product  of  different 

)  social  conditions.     Both  of  these  causes  operate  to  a 

certain  extent  in  minimising  the  statistics  of  female 

offences ;    the   first   has   the   effect  of  making  these 

offences  appear  smaller  than    they  really  are,  while 

\  the  second  has  the  effect  of  actually  keeping  down 

their  number.     But  the  action  of  these  two  causes, 


SEX  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  55 

whether  looked  at  individually  or  in  combination,  is 
not  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  facts.  After 
making  a  most  ample  allowance  for  the  part  played 
by  administrative  leniency  on  the  one  hand  and  ■ 
social  conditions  on  the  other,  it  still  remains  obvious 
and  incontestable  that  juveniles  of  the  male  sex 
constitute  the  bulk  of  youthful  offenders.  A  com- 
plete explanation  of  this  phenomenon  must  be  sought 
for  in  the  biological  differences  which  exist  between 
the  sexes.  These  differences  are  both  mental  and 
physical,  they  are  individual  and  not  social,  they  are 
fundamental  and  not  transitory,  and  will  always 
exercise  a  paramount  influence  over  human  action. 
These  biological  differences  affect  not  only  the 
amount  of  crime  committed  by  the  two  sexes,  but 
also  its  nature ;  boys  commit  a  larger  proportion  of 
serious  offences  against  person  and  property  than 
girls.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this 
circumstance  that  the  disposition  of  the  less  serious 
offender  is  less  criminal ;  on  the  contrary,  the  evidence 
of  statistics  and  the  experience  of  reformatory  school- 
managers  agree  in  showing  that  female  offenders  are 
rather  more  likely  to  descend  into  the  ranks  of 
habitual  criminals  than  male  offenders.  In  our  view 
this  condition  of  things  arises  largely  from  the  fact 
that  females  are,  as  a  rule,  later  in  being  subjected  to 
reformative  discipline  than  males,  with  the  ultimate 
result  that  this  discipline  is  less  effective  when  at  last 
it  has  to  be  resorted  to.  It  is  therefore  no  real  kind- 
ness to  female  children  when  they  exhibit  symptoms 
of  habitual  delinquency  to  allow  these  symptoms  to 
develop  unheeded.     It  is  of  course  easy  to  make  too 


56  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS, 

much  of  petty  offences  like  vagrancy  and  trifling 
thefts,  but  it  is  also  easy  to  make  too  Httle.  It  is  not 
what  these  offences  are  in  the  present,  but  what  they 
portend  in  the  future,  which  is  the  essential  point 
for  consideration.  All  available  evidence  forces  us 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  habitual  repetition  of 
petty  offences  is  the  preliminary  preparation  for  the 
commission  of  great  ones.  In  order  to  avoid  the 
greater  evil  it  is  imperative  to  deal  with  the  lesser. 
It  is  the  most  real  kindness  to  the  child  to  deal  with 
it  whilst  it  is  in  the  corrigible  stage  ;  once  this  stage 
is  passed  the  most  self-sacrificing  efforts  are  of  no 
avail,  and  a  human  life  is  irretrievably  ruined.  This 
matter  affects  the  interests  of  society  as  vitally  as  the 
interests  of  the  individual.  The  utmost  care  should 
accordingly  be  bestowed  upon  ascertaining  whether  a 
petty  offence  is  an  isolated  act  or  whether  it  is  one  of 
a  series  ;  at  present  a  want  of  accurate  knowledge  on 
these  points  is  often  followed  by  deplorable  conse- 
quences when  the  offender  arrives  at  maturity  and 
possesses  the  power  as  well  as  the  will  to  do  mischief. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
AGE  AND   JUVENILE  CRIME, 

Effect  of  immaturity  on  crime — The  evolution  of  crime  follows  the 
evolution  of  the  organism — Crime  in  childhood — Crime  in 
maturity — The  most  criminal  age — Age  and  crime  in  industrial 
schools — In  reformatory  schools — Nature  of  crime  determined 
by  age  of  the  offender — Nature  of  crime  among  industrial 
school  children — Nature  of  crime  among  the  reformatory 
school  population  —  Nature  of  juvenile  crime  before  the 
criminal  courts — Effect  of  age  on  the  number  and  nature 
of  summary  offences — Drunkenness  among  juveniles — Rela- 
tion between  intemperance  and  crime — Intemperate  parents 
and  criminal  children — Drunkenness  among  the  parents  of 
New  York  reformatory  inmates — Habitual  crime  among  the 
young — Previous  convictions  of  reformatory  school  children — 
Summary  of  chapter. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  the  effect  of  sex  on  the 
disposition  to  crime  among  the  juvenile  population 
has  been  discussed  ;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  consider 
the  effect  of  age.  The  testimony  of  criminal  statistics 
all  over  the  world  is  unanimous  in  attributing-  a 
supreme  measure  of  importance  to  the  part  played 
by  age  in  determining  the  amount  and  nature  of 
criminality.  Each  period  of  life  has  its  dominant 
mental  and  physical  characteristics,  and  these  cha- 
racteristics are  manifested  in  anti-social  as  well  as 
in  social  forms.     The   period  of  life  which  may  be 

57 


58  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

described  as  the  age  of  growth  and  development  is 
a  period  in  which  the  senses  are  in  a  condition  of 
comparative  maturity  unaccompanied  by  a  corre- 
sponding ripeness  of  the  physical  and  intellectual 
powers.'  This  period  extends  from  childhood  till 
the  approach  of  manhood  ;  it  is  a  time  when  the 
individual  is  passing  through  the  long  and  compli- 
'cated  process  of  adjustment  to  social  surroundings. 
Most  of  the  juvenile  population  are  to  a  great  extent 
amenable  to  this  process  ;  at  the  same  time  there  are 
a  considerable  number  of  intractable  cases,  and  this 
intractability  sometimes  assumes  a  form  which  brings 
the  refractory  individual  within  the  operation  of  the 
criminal  law.  In  very  early  life  inadaptability  to 
social  surroundings  usually  shows  itself  in  the  shape 
of  truancy,  vagrancy,  wandering  habits — in  short,  a 
disposition  to  revert  to  the  nomadic  stage  of  civilisa- 
tion. The  greater  the  demand  made  by  society  on 
the  child,  such  as  the  demand  in  the  present  century 
that  he  shall  regularly  attend  an  elementary  school, 
the  more  clearly  is  the  extent  of  this  nomadic  instinct 
brought  to  light.  Of  course  in  all  cases  where  parental 
supervision  is  of  an  efficient  character  the  wandering 
impulse  is  usually  corrected  and  extinguished,  but 
when  there  is  little  or  no  parental  supervision  a  child 
of  nomadic  tendencies  is  apt  to  be  picked  up  by  the 
police  as  a  vagrant,  and  in  this  way  to  make  its  first 
acquaintance  with  the  criminal  law. 

A  disposition  to  evade  parental  and  scholastic 
authority,  showing  itself  in  vagrant  habits,  may  be 
considered  as  being  in  many  cases  an  initial  step 
towards  the  complete  evolution  of  an  anti-social  life. 


\ 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  59 

It  is  a  step  which  can  be  taken,  and  is  often  taken,  by- 
children  of  surprisingly  tender  years  ;  it  is  the  first 
offence  against  social  order  which  the  very  young  can 
commit.  As  growth  and  development  proceed,  and 
if  there  is  no  corresponding  process  of  adjustment  to 
external  circumstances,  the  tendency  to  revert  to  the 
nomadic  and  to  rebel  against  the  industrial  stage  of 
civilisation  is  joined  by  the  tendency  to  rebel  against 
the  arrangements  of  society  respecting  property. 
We  have  now  the  young  thief  as  well  as  the  young 
v^agrant.  Each  stage  of  growth  is  accompanied  by 
fresh  dangers,  and  the  critical  period  between  boy- 
hood and  youth  produces  the  offender  against  the 
person.  This  is  a  period  of  profound  physiological 
change  ;  dormant  instincts  and  emotions  begin  to 
waken  into  life,  necessitating  the  exercise  of  restraint 
upon  a  more  extensive  scale.  Many  a  juvenile  who 
has  unconsciously  succeeded  in  adjusting  himself  to 
surrounding  social  conditions  up  to  this  critical  stage, 
is  unable  to  battle  against  the  new  instincts  which 
then  stir  within  him,  and  he  becomes  an  offender 
against  the  person. 

The  tendency  to  crime  is  intensified  at  this  age  by 
new  social  conditions  as  well  as  by  biological  altera- 
tions within  the  personality.  It  is  at  this  period  of 
life  that  the  sphere  of  contact  with  the  outer  world  is 
immeasurably  enlarged.  Hitherto  social  existence 
had  been  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  home 
and  the  school ;  it  now  begins  to  embrace  the 
boundless  field  of  industrial  life.  In  this  field  con- 
tact with  outward  conditions  is  multiplied  a  hundred- 
fold ;  the  juvenile  enters  what  is  practically  a  new 


60  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

world — a  world  of  intensified  effort  and  struggle,  a 
world  with  a  severer  code  of  discipline,  where  the 
difficulty  of  adjustment  to  external  circumstances  is 
harder  to  effect.  Many  a  juvenile  who  has  passed 
successfully  through  the  discipline  of  the  home  and 
the  school,  as  well  as  the  discipline  entailed  upon  him 
by  the  instincts  of  approaching  manhood,  is  unable  to 
adjust  himself  to  the  demands  of  industrial  life.  In 
some  cases  this  inability  arises  from  the  hard  con- 
ditions of  industrial  life  itself,  in  some  cases  it  arises 
from  defective  physical  organisation  on  the  part  of 
the  youth,  in  some  cases  it  arises  from  the  incapacity 
of  the  immature  mind  to  control  the  matured  senses, 
but  from  whatever  of  these  causes  or  combination  of 
them  the  inability  proceeds,  its  ultimate  result  is  to 
produce  a  vagrant  or  an  offender  against  property,  or 
perhaps  a  combination  of  both. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  evolution  of  criminal 
characteristics  follows  in  the  main  the  evolution  of 
the  organism,  and  is  largely  dependent  upon  its 
growth  and  development.  In  the  early  stages  of  life 
the  first  anti-social  impulse  which  comes  into  collision 
with  the  criminal  law  is  the  vagrant  instinct}  next 
comes  the  instinct  which  manifests  itself  in  offences 
against  property ;  finally  comes  the  instinct  which 
shows  itself  in  offences  against  the  person.  In 
mentioning  anti-social  impulses  in  this  order  it  is 
not  to  be  understood  that  this  is  the  order  in  which 
they  arise  and  assume  a  definite  shape  in  the  human 
mind.  As  a  matter  of  fact  such  is  not  the  case.  The 
disposition  to  use  personal  violence  or  the  disposition 
to  steal  may  show  itself  in  the  child  before  the  vagrant 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME,  6 1 

Spirit  comes  to  light,  but  the  use  of  personal  violence 
by  the  very  young  is  seldom  followed  by  consequences 
which  necessitate  the  action  of  the  criminal  law.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  offences  against  property.  In 
cases  of  petty  theft  or  personal  violence  by  children 
the  criminal  law  is  not  required,  but  it  is  bound  to 
take  cognisance  of  cases  of  vagrancy,  and  it  is  for 
this  reason,  and  for  this  reason  only,  that  vagrancy 
stands  first  on  the  list  of  offences  committed  by  the 
young. 

When  the  period  of  growth  and  development  has 
reached  its  climax,  and  the  individual  enters  upon 
the  second  stage  of  life — the  period  of  maturity — his 
anti-social    enterprises    closely   correspond    with    the 

<-^  stage  of  existence  which  he  has  attained.  .In 
maturity  the  physical  and  mental  powers  are  at 
their  highest  pitch  of  vigour,  criminal  impulses  have 

\Jr'  become  solidified  into  criminal  habits,  personal  and 
social  circumstances  exercise  a  more  powerful  influ- 
ence ;  the  sphere  of  opportunity  is  enlarged  ;  life 
altogether  has  become  more  complex  ;  the  individual 
touches  society  at  a  great  many  more  points.  As  a 
result  of  this  wide-reaching  combination  of  individual 
and  social  circumstances  the  period  of  early  maturity 
is  the  time  when  the  population  is  most  addicted  to 
crime.  Among  different  races  maturity  is  reached  at 
different  ages.  Accordingly,  international  criminal 
statistics  do  not  show  that  each  age  produces  the 
same  proportion  of  offences.  In  some  countries 
where  the  population  reach  maturity  at  a  compara- 
tively early  age,  crime  is  greater  in  extent  at  an 
earlier  age  than  in  other  countries  where  the  juvenile 
6 


62  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

is  later  in  reaching  manhood.  It  is  the  stage  of 
maturity,  and  not  merely  the  number  of  years  a  person 
has  lived,  which  determines  the  amount  as  well  as  the 
character  of  crime. 

In  European  communities,  if  we  include  all  kinds 
of  offences,  the  most  criminal  age  is  between  twenty 
and    thirty.       What    we    find    in    Europe    we    also 
find    in    Australia     and    the    United     States.       In 
the   colony  of  New  South  Wales,  for  instance,  the 
number    of  offenders    apprehended    in    1890    for   all 
kinds  of  offences  under  the  age  of  twenty  amounted 
to    3,372  ;    the    number    apprehended    between    the 
ages  of  twenty  and  forty  amounted   to   22,174,   the 
number  apprehended  over  forty  dropped  to    13,022. 
In    the    United  States,   if  the    prison    population   is 
to    be    taken    as    a    test    of    the   amount   of    crime 
among  the  population  at  various  periods  of  life,  the 
most  criminal  age  is  between  twenty  and  twenty-four. 
At  the  census  of  1890  the  number  of  prisoners  in  the 
United    States    prisons    under   the   age   of    fourteen 
amounted  to  711;  between  fifteen  and  nineteen  the 
number  in  prison  increased  to  8,984 ;  between  twenty 
and  twenty-four  the  numbers  in  prison  leapt  up   to 
19,705  ;    between    twenty-five   and   twenty-nine   the 
numbers    begin    to    diminish    (16,348),    and    steadily 
continue  to  decrease  with  the  advance  of  age.     In 
England   the  annual  number  of  convictions  for   all 
kinds  of  offences  of  a  criminal  character  follows  very 
much  the  same  course  as  in  Australia  and  the  United 
States.     In    the   year   1894  the  number  of  children 
convicted  under  the  age  of  twelve  amounted  to  2,450. 
Between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  sixteen  the  number 


AGE   AND  JUVENILE    CRIME.  63 

of  convictions  rose  to  io,i6i.  Between  sixteen  and 
t\vent}^-one  the  number  of  convictions  still  continues 
to  rise,  and  reach  a  total  of  31,139.  Between  twenty- 
one  and  thirty  convictions  reach  their  highest 
level,  and  attain  a  total  of  69,280.  In  looking  at 
these  statistics  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  the 
difference  between  the  amount  of  crime  in  the  five 
years  from  sixteen  to  twenty-one,  and  the  ten  years 
from  twenty-one  to  thirty,  is  not  so  great  as  at  first 
sight  appears.  The  ages  between  sixteen  and  twenty- 
one  only  include  a  period  of  five  years,  whereas  the 
ages  between  twenty-one  and  thirty  include  a  period 
of  ten  years.  The  ratio  of  convictions  to  the  popu- 
lation between  sixteen  and  twenty-one  amounts  to 
about  20  per  thousand,  the  ratio  of  convictions  to  the 
population  between  twenty-one  and  thirty  is  about 
30  per  thousand. 

The  effect  of  age  on  the  number  of  juvenile  offences 
is  also  exemplified  in  the  returns  relating  to  industrial 
and  reformatory  schools.  On  looking  at  the  totals 
for  all  classes  of  industrial  schools  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  numbers  increase  year  by  year  from  infancy 
upwards  until  the  age  of  twelve.  When  the  age  of 
twelve  is  reached  the  industrial  school  population 
begins  to  diminish,  A  smaller  number  of  children 
are  committed  to  these  institutions  between  twelve 
and  fourteen  than  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  twelve. 
The  diminution  in  the  number  of  committals  to  indus- 
trial schools  after  the  age  of  twelve  has  been  passed 
is  entirely  due  to  an  alteration  in  the  method  of 
dealing  with  juveniles  over  twelve.  After  the  age  of 
twelve  has  been  passed  the  reformatory  school  begins 


64  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

to  take  the  place  of  the  industrial  school,  and  whipping 
as  a  mode  of  punishment  is  more  frequently  resorted 
to.  The  decrease  in  the  number  of  children  com- 
mitted to  industrial  schools  after  the  age  of  twelve 
is  not  a  contradiction  of  the  principle  that  -offences 
increase  as  maturity  is  approached.  It  is  merely  an 
exemplification  of  the  fact  that  methods  of  punish- 
ment are  to  some  extent  determined  by  the  age  of 
the  offender.  We  see  another  instance  of  the  same 
fact  in  connection  with  the  population  of  reforma- 
tory institutions.  Fewer  juveniles  are  committed  to 
reformatory  schools  at  the  age  of  fifteen  than  at  the 
age  of  fourteen.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  after  the 
age  of  fourteen  magistrates  are  less  reluctant  to 
commit  juveniles  to  prison,  or  to  pass  a  sentence 
of  corporal  punishment.  Where  we  perceive  any 
apparent  drop  in  the  continuous  growth  of  crime 
in  the  years  between  youth  and  manhood,  it  is 
practically  certain  that  this  drop  is  only  apparent.  A 
full  investigation  of  the  circumstances  will  reveal  the 
fact  that  we  have  to  do  with  an  alteration  of  judicial 
procedure  and  not  with  a  decrease  of  criminality. 

The  character  as  well  as  the  amount  of  juvenile 
crime  is  largely  determined  by  the  age  of  the  offender. 
English  industrial  schools,  truant  schools,  and  day 
industrial  schools  contain  offenders  of  the  youngest 
type.  When  we  examine  the  nature  of  the  offences 
for  which  juveniles  are  committed  to  these  institu- 
tions it  will  be  found  that  more  than  one-half  of 
them  are  sent  to  industrial  schools  for  offences  of 
what  may  be  comprehensively  described  as  of  a 
nomadic   character.     All    cases    of    persistent    non- 


AGE   AND  JUVENILE    CRIME.  6$ 

■  attendance  at  an  elementary  school  belong  to  this 
class.  All  children  belong  to  this  class  who  are  sent 
to  industrial  schools  for  begging,  wandering,  frequent- 
ing the  company  of  thieves  and  abandoned  women. 
Children  who  are  convicted  of  being  intractable  and 
incorrigible  at  home,  and  children  who  are  sent  to 
industrial  schools  as  refractory  paupers,  in  most  cases 
belong  to  the  nomadic  class  of  juveniles.  In  addition 
to  children  of  nomadic  habits  industrial  schools  also 
contain  a  considerable  proportion  of  children  con- 
victed of  petty  theft,  or  of  some  other  offence  punish- 
able with  imprisonment.  The  number  of  children 
committed  to  industrial  schools  on  account  of  petty 
theft  is  always  larger  than  appears  in  the  returns. 
In  many  cases  of  this  character  the  charge  is  reduced 
to  some  slighter  offence,  in  the  interests  of  the  child's 
future  welfare,  and  many  cases  of  petty  theft  appear 
in  the  returns  as  cases  of  intractability,  or  wandering, 
or  truancy  from  school. 

Children  cannot  be  committed  to  industrial  schools 
over  the  age  of  fourteen,  or  detained  in  them  over  the 
age  of  sixteen.  In  reformatory  schools,  on  the  other 
hand,  children  may  be  committed  up  to  the  age  of 
sixteen  and  detained  till  the  age  of  nineteen.  Until 
recently  they  might  be  detained  till  the  age  of  twenty- 
one.  But  an  Act  was  passed  a  few  years  ago,  which 
is  usually  known  as  Lord  Leigh's  Act,  which  limited 
the  age  of  detention  to  nineteen.  The  fact  to  be 
observed  is  that  the  children  committed  to  reforma- 
tory schools  are  a  somewhat  older  class  of  juveniles 
than  the  children  sent  to  industrial  schools.  The 
result  of  this  superiority  in  age  is  that  the  reformatory 


66  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

school  population  is  composed  of  offenders  of  a  some- 
what more  criminal  character  than  the  industrial 
school  population.  Very  few  children,  for  example, 
in  industrial  schools  are  charged  with  indictable 
offences.  In  reformatory  schools,  on  the  other  hand, 
almost  half  of  the  inmates  are  convicted  of  indictable 
offences.  Whether  an  offence  will  be  dealt  with  on 
indictment,  or  by  summary  proceedings,  is  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  determined  by  the  age  of  the  offender. 
This  fact  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  com- 
paring the  gravity  of  offences  committed  by  reforma- 
tory school  children  with  the  offences  committed  by 
children  in  industrial  schools.  But,  even  after  making 
every  possible  allowance  on  the  ground  of  age,  it  is 
incontestable  that  the  older  children  in  reformatory 
schools  are,  on  the  whole,  sent  to  these  institutions  for 
more  serious  offences  than  the  children  committed  to 
industrial  schools.  We  have  already  seen  that  at 
least  half  of  the  industrial  school  population  are  com- 
mitted for  offences  in  the  nature  of  vagrancy.  Only 
about  a  tenth  of  the  reformatory  school  population 
are  convicted  for  offences  of  this  description.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  reformatory  school  inmates  are 
committed  for  offences  against  property.  Sometimes 
these  offences  merely  take  the  form  of  malicious 
damage  to  property,  and  properly  belong  to  the 
category  of  offences  engendered  by  the  spirit  of 
mischief,  rather  than  by  the  desire  to  steal.  But 
most  of  the  offences  against  property  committed  by 
the  reformatory  school  population  are  cases  of  theft 
in  one  or  other  of  its  various  forms.  Sometimes  the 
theft  is  simple  larceny,  sometimes  it  is  pocket-picking, 


'   AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  6/ 

sometimes  it  is  the  embezzlement  of  money,  some- 
times it  is  obtaining  money  by  false  pretences.  A 
certain  number  of  juveniles  under  sixteen  are  also 
convicted  of  offences  against  property  with  violence, 
such  as  shopbreaking,  housebreaking,  and  burglary. 
But  the  percentage  of  these  more  serious  crimes 
is  exceedingly  small  among  the  reformatory  school 
population.  Crimes  of  this  description  require  a 
greater  amount  of  physical  and  mental  power  than 
is  usually  to  be  found  among  juveniles  under  the 
age  of  sixteen. 

It  is  also  chiefly  owing  to  this  lack  of  power 
that  offences  against  the  person  are  not  numerous 
among  the  reformatory  school  population  in  England 
and  Wales.  An  exceedingly  small  proportion  of 
juveniles  in  reformatory  institutions  are  committed 
for  common  assaults,  or  aggravated  assaults,  or 
assaults  on  females,  or  the  more  serious  crime  of 
manslaughter.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  great  bulk 
of  the  inmates  of  these  establishments  may  be 
described  as  vagrants  and  young  thieves.  The 
principal  difference  between  the  population  of  the 
reformatory  and  industrial  schools  is  that  in  the  latter 
the  vagrants  preponderate  and  in  the  former  the 
thieves ;  the  principal  reason  for  this  difference  is 
that  industrial  schools  contain  younger  children  than 
reformatory  schools,  and  that  vagrancy  precedes  theft 
in  the  evolution  of  crime. 

In  dealing  with  the  nature  of  the  offences  com- 
mitted by  juveniles  in  industrial  and  reformatory 
institutions  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  these  children 
do   not   by   any   means   comprise  the  whole  of  the 


68  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

juvenile  delinquent  population.  Large  numbers  of 
juveniles  are  annually  convicted  by  the  criminal 
courts  who  are  not  sentenced  to  a  period  of  de- 
tention in  correctional  establishments.  It  is  also  to 
be  recollected  that  a  juvenile  does  not  become  a  man 
after  the  age  of  sixteen,  as  our  English  criminal  law 
so  fatuously  supposes.  In  order  therefore  to  get  a 
full  view  of  the  nature  of  juvenile  crime  among  the 
population  up  to  the  age  of  civil  maturity,  that  is  to 
say,  the  age  of  twenty-one,  we  must  look  at  the 
returns  relating  to  the  number  of  persons  annually 
convicted  up  to  that  age.  Let  us  examine  these 
returns  in  the  order  of  their  seriousness,  to  see  what 
they  tell  us  with  respect  to"  the  nature  of  juvenile 
delinquency.  The  most  serious  cases  tried  in  this 
country  are  cases  tried  before  courts  of  assizes  and 
quarter  sessions,  and  cases  of  an  indictable  character 
tried  before  courts  of  summary  jurisdiction.  In  the 
year  1894,  26  children  in  every  100,000  of  the  juvenile 
population  under  the  age  of  twelve  were  convicted  of 
indictable  offences.  Between  the  ages  of  twelve  and 
sixteen  years  261  in  every  100,000  of  the  juvenile 
population  between  these  ages  were  convicted  of 
indictable  offences.  Between  the  ages  of  sixteen 
and  twenty-one  years  330  in  every  100,000  of  the 
juvenile  population  of  the  same  age  were  convicted 
of  indictable  offences.  It  will  be  seen  from  these 
statistics  that  juvenile  crime  steadily  increases  in 
amount  the  nearer  maturity  is  approached.  It  also 
increases  in  seriousness.  Crimes  of  violence  against 
the  person  are  not  half  so  numerous  among  children 
under  sixteen  as   they  are   among   youths   between . 


AGE   AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  69 

sixteen  and  twenty-one.  Crimes  against  morals  are 
between  three  and  four  times  more  numerous  among 
youths  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one  than  among 
the  juvenile  population  under  sixteen.  When  we 
pass  from  crimes  of  violence  against  the  person  to  the 
consideration  of  crimes  of  violence  against  property, 
we  get  almost  exactly  the  same  results.  Crimes  in 
the  nature  of  burglary,  housebreaking  and  shop- 
breaking, and  the  like,  are  four  times  more  frequent 
among  youths  over  sixteen  than  among  juveniles 
under  that  age.  When  we  descend  to  the  lighter 
kinds  of  offences  against  property,  that  is  to  say, 
offences  which  juveniles  under  sixteen  are  not  pre- 
vented by  physical  impediments  from  committing, 
the  vast  difference  in  the  proportion  of  crime  between 
juveniles  under  sixteen  and  juveniles  over  sixteen 
at  once  disappears.  The  juvenile  under  sixteen  is 
almost  as  much  addicted  to  simple  theft  as  the 
juvenile  who   is  on  the  verge  of  manhood. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  effect  of  age  on  offences  of 
a  summary  character.  These  offences,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  remark,  are  in  the  main  of  a  less  serious 
nature  than  indictable  offences.  They  consist  princi- 
pally of  offences  against  the  person,  offences  against 
the  licensing  laws,  the  labour  laws,  police  regulations, 
the  vagrancy  acts,  and  municipal  regulations  of 
various  kinds.  Offences  of  this  description  form  by 
far  the  largest  number  of  offences  committed  from 
year  to  year.  For  one  offence  of  an  indictable 
character  which  is  committed  about  a  dozen  offences 
of  a  summary  character  are  committed.  Juveniles 
under  sixteen  form  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  class 


70  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

of  offenders  convicted  of  summary  offences.  This 
arises  to  some  extent  from  the  fact  that  they  are  not 
in  a  position  to  commit  summary  offences  of  certain 
kinds.  The  most  numerous  class  of  summary  offences 
are  offences  against  the  Hqour  laws  in  the  shape  of 
drunkenness.  In  the  year  1894  there  were  over 
98,000  convictions  for  drunkenness  alone.  This 
amounted  to  one-half  of  the  total  summary  convic- 
tions in  cases  of  a  criminal  character.  The  question 
of  the  relation  between  intemperance  and  crime  is  a 
very  interesting  one,  and  it  is  often  answered  by 
saying  that  if  there  were  no  drunkenness  there  would 
be  no  delinquency.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  any  one 
who  looks  at  the  connection  between  age  and  crime 
to  take  up  this  extreme  position.  Among  children 
under  the  age  of  sixteen  it  may  be  said,  if  the  criminal 
returns  are  to  be  taken  as  a  test,  that  such  a  thing  as 
intemperance  hardly  exists.  In  1894,  in  a  total  of 
nearly  100,000  convictions  for  being  drunk,  only 
about  forty  cases  occurred  among  children  under 
sixteen.  Among  the  adult  population  between  the 
ages  of  thirty  and  forty  more  than  50,000  convictions 
for  drunkenness  occurred.  According  to  the  theory 
that  drink  and  crime  inevitably  go  together,  we  ought 
to  find  the  population  between  the  ages  of  thirty  and 
forty  committing  a  great  many  more  offences  of  an 
indictable  character  than  the  population  under  the 
age  of  sixteen.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  do  not 
find  anything  of  the  sort.  Among  juveniles  under 
sixteen  who  are  not  addicted  to  the  habit  of  drink 
there  are  261  indictable  offenders  to  every  100,000 
of  the  juvenile   population  under  sixteen.     On   the 


AGE   AND  JUVENILE    CRIME.  7 1 

Other  hand,  among  the  population  between  thirty  and 
forty  who  are  largely  addicted  to  drink  there  are  only 
200  indictable  offenders  to  every  100,000  of  the 
population  of  a  similar  age.  In  other  words,  there 
is  less  indictable  crime  among  the  drunken  than 
among  the  sober  section  of  the  population.  Let  us 
take  another  instance.  The  population  between  the 
ages  of  thirty  and  forty  is  seven  times  as  much 
addicted  to  the  habit  of  intemperance  as  the  popula- 
tion between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-one, 
but  the  comparatively  sober  population  between 
sixteen  and  twenty-one  is  much  more  addicted  to 
indictable  crime.  Between  sixteen  and  twenty-one 
there  are  330  convictions  per  annum  for  indictable 
offences  per  100,000  of  the  population  ;  between 
thirty  and  forty  there  are,  as  has  just  been  said,  only 
200  convictions  per  annum. 

Before  drawing  paradoxical  conclusions  from  these 
figures  it  is  as  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  they  do  not 
represent  all  the  facts  of  the  case.  In  the  first  place 
it  must  be  recollected  that  although  juveniles  are  not 
seriously  addicted  to  drink,  and  are  seriously  addicted 
to  crime,  yet  juveniles  addicted  to  crime  are  often  the 
product,  or  in  part  the  product,  of  intemperate  sur- 
roundings. When  we  inquire  into  the  character  of 
the  parents  of  juvenile  offenders  it  is  frequently  found 
that  they  are  people  of  drunken  habits.  The  children 
of  people  of  intemperate  habits  are  more  or  less  likely 
to  be  degraded  and  demoralised  by  their  parents.  It 
is  not  the  drunken  habits  of  the  children  themselves, 
but  the  drunken  habits  of  the  parents,  which  in  many 
cases  produce  crime  among  the  children.     Although 


72  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

intemperance  is  not  directly  responsible  for  juvenile 
crime  it  is  often  indirectly  responsible.  It  has  a 
tendency  to  create  the  atmosphere  in  the  midst  of 
which  criminality  is  generated.  I  have  never  seen 
any  returns  relating  to  the  extent  to  which  in- 
temperance prevails  in  England  among  the  parents 
of  juvenile  offenders.  I  do  not  know  that  such 
returns  exist.  The  information  derived  from  young 
prisoners  themselves  as  to  the  habits  of  their  parents, 
when  they  have  parents,  is  not  altogether  to  be 
depended  on.  Some  of  these  juveniles  are  inclined 
to  exaggerate  the  evil  ways  of  their  parents  in  order 
to  palliate  their  own  offences,  whilst  others  are  dis- 
posed to  make  their  parents  out  to  be  much  better 
than  they  really  are.  Assuming  that  the  exaggera- 
tions of  the  one  class  are  counterbalanced  by  the 
concealments  of  the  other,  I  should  say,  after  analysing 
a  large  number  of  cases,  that  from  15  to  20  per  cent, 
of  the  juvenile  prison  population  are  descended  from 
parents  who  are  considerably  addicted  to  drink. 
This  is  no  doubt  a  considerable  percentage,  but  it 
cannot  be  said  to  account  for  more  than  a  fifth  of  the 
cases  of  juvenile  crime  in  England. 

In  the  United  States  it  would  appear  that  drunken- 
ness among  parents  is  a  more  frequent  contributory 
cause  of  crime  than  it  is  in  England.  This  at  least 
seems  to  be  the  case  if  the  returns  of  the  New  York 
State  Reformatory  are  to  be  accepted  as  a  fair  test 
of  the  parental  conditions  of  juvenile  offenders  in 
America  as  a  whole.  According  to  the  returns  of 
this  reformatory  drunkenness  can  be  clearly  traced 
in  no  less  than  38  per  cent,  of  the  ancestors  of  the 


II 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  73 

inmates.     I  do  not  know  whether  the  word  "ancestry" 
which  is  used  in  the  returns  means  merely  father  and 
mother    or   also    more    distant    relatives.     From    the 
contents  of  other  portions  of  the  report  it  appears 
to    mean     father    and    mother    only.      Drunkenness 
among  the  parents  of  38   per  cent,  of  the  prisoners 
in  the  reformatory  is  a  high  and  a  serious  percentage. 
It  shows  that  the  demoralising  influence  of  drink  is 
apt  to  destroy  the  future  of  the  child  as  well  as  the 
character  of  the  parent.     Yet  it  must  be  pointed  out 
that  it  leaves  no  less  than  62  per  cent,  of  the  cases 
in  New  York  State  Reformatory  entirely  unaccounted 
for  on  the  ground  of  drink  among  the  parents.     We 
must,   I    am    afraid,  be   prepared    to   accept   it    as  a 
fact    that  juvenile  crime  cannot   be   explained    by  a 
reference   to   the   one   word    drink.      It   is   perfectly 
legitimate   to   point   out   the   strong   bonds  of  con- 
nection   between    drink    and  crime.      But   when  the 
question  of  the  relation  between  drink  and  crime  is 
looked  at  from  a  perfectly  dispassionate  point  of  view 
it    becomes    as    clear   as    noonday  that  the  habit  of 
intemperance  alone  will  not  explain  the  tendency  to 
violate  the  criminal  law.     We  have  already  seen  that 
pauperism  alone  will  not  explain  crime;  we  now  see  that 
drunkenness  alone  will  not  explain  it.     Both  of  these 
conditions  contribute  sometimes  directly  and  some- 
times indirectly  to  increase  the  volume  of  criminality. 
They  are  social  diseases  of  such  an  acute  character 
as  are  bound  to  manifest  themselves  in  violations  of 
the  criminal  law.     But  to  attribute  all  cases  of  crime 
either  to  the  one  cause  or  to  the  other  is  to  overlook 
facts  as  large  as  mountains,  and  as  easily  discernible. 


74  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

Before  concluding  our  observ^ations  on  the  relation 
between  age  and  crime  it  will  be  of  interest  to  as- 
certain, if  possible,  to  what  extent  crime  becomes  a 
habit  among  the  young.  An  offence  which  is  jnerely 
a  transitory  and  unrepeated  incident  in  the  life  of  a 
juvenile  is  not  nearly  so  serious  from  the  point  of 
view  of  social  security  as  an  offence  which  is  one  of 
a  series  committed  by  the  same  offender.  A  solitary 
and  unrepeated  offence  is  usually  the  product  of  a 
set  of  individual  and  social  circumstances  of  a  peculiar 
and  extraordinary  character.  Circumstances  of  this 
description  probably  never  recur  in  the  life  of  an 
individual,  and  as  the  circumstances  do  not  recur  the 
offence  does  not  recur.  The  offence,  as  a  mattei  of 
fact,  is  an  untoward  and  hateful  incident  ;  it  is  not 
the  outcome  of  the  dominant  characteristics  of  the 
individual  ;  it  is  the  deplorable  product  of  an 
abnormal  moment  when  the  individual  is  temporarily 
unbalanced  by  the  operation  of  an  exceptional  set 
of  conditions  without  him  or  within  him.  It  is  as 
unfair  to  judge  the  character  of  a  man  by  an  isolated 
offence  of  this  kind  as  it  would  be  to  estimate  his 
capacity  for  walking  by  the  fact  that  in  exceedingly 
difficult  circumstances  he  once  stumbled  and  fell. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  an  offence  is  one  of  a  series, 
when  it  is  being  habitually  committed,  it  is  a  pretty 
sure  indication  that  either  the  character  of  the 
individual  is  abnormal,  or  that  his  circumstances  are 
abnormal,  or  that,  as  often  happens,  both  circum- 
stances and  character  are  abnormal.  A  person  in 
this  condition  becomes  a  serious  social  danger ;  he 
has   acquired    the   habit    of    crime   by  the    adverse 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  75 

conditions  of  his  existence ;  criminal  conduct  becomes 
a  part  of  his  ordinary  self,  and  he  exhibits  it  at  every 
favourable  opportunity. 

We  have,  unfortunately,  no  means  of  ascertaining 
the  exact  proportions  of  habitual  offenders  among 
the  juvenile  delinquent  population  as  a  whole.  Our 
only  information  upon  this  important  point,  as  far 
as  England  is  concerned,  is  information  relating  to 
the  previous  convictions  of  juveniles  committed  to 
reformatory  schools.  According  to  the  returns  for 
1894  dealing  with  this  subject,  it  appears  that  con- 
siderably more  than  one-half  (64  per  cent.)  of  the 
offenders  admitted  to  reformatories  had  been  convicted 
of  crime  more  than  once.  In  462  cases  the  convictions 
were  second  convictions,  in  222  cases  they  were  third 
convictions,  in  96  cases  they  were  fourth  convictions, 
in  46  cases  the  juveniles  had  been  from  five  to  ten 
times  convicted.  But  these  official  returns  of  previous 
convictions  are  not  by  any  means  exhaustive.  They 
do  not  reveal  the  full  extent  to  which  crime  has 
tended  to  become  a  habit  among  the  reformatory 
school  population.  The  imperfection  of  these  returns 
arises  from  two  circumstances.  In  the  first  place  it 
very  often  happens  that  the  previous  conviction  is 
not  recorded,  and  in  the  second  place  the  absence  of 
a  previous  conviction  is  not  a  proof  that  the  juvenile 
is  a  first  offender.  All  that  the  absence  of  a  previous 
conviction  in  many  cases  implies  is  that  the  offender 
has  hitherto  succeeded  in  escaping  detection.  He 
may  have  committed  a  great  many  offences  before  he 
was  finally  detected  and  brought  before  the  criminal 
courts,  but  in  the  eye  of  the  law  he  is  reckoned  as  a 


7^  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

first  offender.     When  a  young  offender  is  questioned 
as  to  the  details  of  his  former  career  it  is  very  soon 
seen  that  the  official  record  of  his  previous  history  is 
a  very  inadequate  test  of  his  real  character  and  ante- 
cedents.    The  reports  of  the  Philanthropic  Society's 
farm  school  at  Redhill  for  the  year  1891  contains  an 
interesting  illustration  of  the  incompleteness  of  public 
returns    relating    to    the    previous    history   of  young 
offenders  committed  to  that  institution.     In  the  year 
1891  thirty-three  of  the  fresh  arrivals  had  no  previous 
convictions  recorded  against  their  names.     As  far  as 
the  criminal  law  was  acquainted  with  them  they  were 
first  offenders.     But  when  these  thirty-three  juveniles 
came  to  be  examined  by  the  experienced  secretary  of 
the  Philanthropic  Society  it  was  discovered  that  all 
of  them  had  committed  offences  in  addition  to  the 
offence  for  which  they  were  actually  discovered  and 
convicted  ;  that  many  of  them  had  been   previously 
convicted,  but  the  previous  conviction  was  unrecorded  ; 
and  that  at  least  24  per  cent,  of  them  had  been  in 
voluntary    homes    and    truant    schools    before    being- 
ultimately  committed  to  the  reformatory.     In  a  word, 
all   these  juveniles,  although   young  in   years,   were 
rapidly  acquiring  the  habit  of  crime.     These  thirty- 
three  cases  are  so  useful  as  affording  an  indication  of 
the  nature  of  juvenile  crime,  as  well  as  of  the  manner 
in  which  crime  becomes  a  habit  among  the  young, 
that  they  are  here  reproduced. 

No.  I,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  stealing  jewellery 
from  his  father's  house.  He  admits  having  previously 
robbed  his  father  of  a  watch,  which  he  pawned  for 
twenty  shillings.     The  jewellery,  £2  i6s.  in  value,  he 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  y/ 

sold  for  eleven  shillings,  a  part  of  which  he  spent  at 
the  Varieties  Theatre,  Hoxton.  He  had  been  out  of 
work  and  in  bad  company  for  more  than  a  year. 

No.  2,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  pair  of 
boots  from  a  shop.  He  has  been  locked  up  for  being 
on  enclosed  premises  ;  has  been  twice  to  a  truant 
school  and  birched  there  ;  and  has  been  concerned 
with  others  in  robbing  bakers'  shops,  &c. 

No.  3,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  four  gallons 
of  apples  from  a  granary,  which  was  entered  by 
means  of  keys  stolen  from  a  neighbouring  shop. 
He  is  one  of  a  gang  of  four  who  have  been  constantly 
thieving  for  some  time  past.  Three  years  ago  he 
was  found  guilty  of  a  similar  offence,  and  cautioned  ; 
two  days  after  he  helped  to  rob  a  carrier's  cart.  He 
also  admits  other  thefts. 

No.  4,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  being  found  on 
enclosed  premises  and  attempting  to  rob  a  shop  till. 
He  had  been  locked  up  three  times  for  stealing 
apples,  for  vagrancy,  and  wilful  damage,  but  was 
cautioned  and  discharged.  He  admits  frequent 
thieving  and  keeping  bad  company. 

No.  5,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  unlawful  possession 
of  old  iron.  He  had  been  previously  charged  with 
stealing  carrots,  but  the  prosecutor  was  paid  twenty 
shillings  not  to  appear.  He  had  also  been  charged 
with  stealing  iron,  but  was  let  off  with  a  caution.  He 
admitted  having  committed  many  other  thefts,  and 
having  associated  with  convicted  lads  who  would 
"steal  anything." 

No.-  6. — Convicted  of  stealing  sweets  from  a  shop. 
When  eight  years  old  was  charged  with  a  similar 
7 


78  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

offence  and  dismissed  on  account  of  his  youth. 
Admits  thieving  from  shops  ever  since  ;  at  first  led 
by  older  boys,  and  has  latterly  himself  induced  his 
juniors  to  go  with  him.  This  was  the  case  in  the 
offence  for  which  he  was  committed  to  the  reforma- 
tory ;  two  younger  lads  were  also  concerned  in  it,  and 
all  had  deliberately  planned  the  robbery. 

No.  7,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  embezzlement. 
Two  other  cases  of  embezzling  his  master's  money 
were  proved  at  the  same  time,  and  his  master  gave 
him  a  very  bad  character. 

No.  8. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  postal  order  from 
a  letter.  Admits  having  opened  several  other  letters 
and  stolen  at  least  two  orders  previously.  In  the 
last  instance  he  forged  the  signature  of  the  clerk  of 
the  Poor  Law  Union,  of  which  he  was  an  inmate,  to 
obtain  the  money. 

No.  9,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  burglariously  stealing 
a  pair  of  shoes  from  a  shop  window.  Admits  at  least 
three  previous  thefts  within  the  last  six  months. 

No.  10,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  basket 
of  egg-cups.  Has  been  an  habitual  thief  for  at 
least  twelve  months.  Admits  frequent  thefts  from 
shops. 

No.  ir. — Convicted  of  stealing  jackets  on  two 
occasions  ;  of  stealing  ;^i  4s.  and  a  penknife ;  of 
stealing  los.  and  two  sheets.  He  had  been  for  some 
time  suspected  by  the  police,  and  admits  other  thefts 
of  money,  fruit,  &c. 

No.  12.  aged  13. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  dress  and 
jacket,  value  ^i  los.,  from  his  sister.  He  has  been 
previously  charged  before   the   magistrates,  but  dis- 


AGE   AND  JUVENILE    CRIME.  79 

missed    with   a   caution.     Admits    numerous    other 
thefts  from  shops,  &c. 

No.  13,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  embezzlement. 
Had  previously  been  charged  with  embezzlement  of 
£2  15s.,  was  sent  by  the  magistrate  to  a  voluntary 
home  in  London.  Nine  months  afterwards  again 
convicted  of  embezzlement,  and  again  sent  by  the 
magistrate  to  the  same  voluntary  home.  About  a 
week  after  was  again  charged  and  convicted. 

No.  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  zinc  to  the  value  of 
£\  ys.  Had  been  charged  with  robbing  a  till  and 
acquitted.  Admits  previous  thefts  and  keeping  bad 
company. 

No.  15,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  groceries 
from  a  cart.  Once  remanded  for  a  week  for  stealing 
pigeons.  Admits  thieving  off  and  on  for  upwards  of 
three  years,  and  had  been  to  a  truant  school. 

No.  16,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  watch. 
Has  been  connected  with  thieving  companions  and 
previously  locked  up. 

No.  17,  aged  15, — Convicted  as  a  rogue  and 
vagabond  for  attempting  to  pick  pockets.  Was 
apprehended  in  the  company  of  a  convicted  thief, 
and  had  absconded  from  a  boys'  institution,  where 
he  bore  a  bad  character. 

No.  18,  aged  12. — Convicted  of  breaking  into  a 
counting-house  and  stealing  £6  9s.  Had  been  keep- 
ing bad  company  and  admits  continually  thieving. 
Once  stole  a  boat  at  night  and  took  it  to  Shoreham, 
where  he  sold  it  for  £^. 

No.  19,  aged  13. — Convicted  of  indecent  assault. 
Admits  thieving  and  being  in  bad  company  for  the 
last  eighteen  months. 


8o  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

No.  20,  aged  \\\. — Convicted  with  No.  19  of  in- 
decent assault.  Had  been  keeping  bad  company, 
and  had  been  under  bad  home  influences. 

No,  21,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  stealing  a  live 
duck.  Had  been  locked  up  and  discharged  for 
stealing  meat  ;  admits  habitual  thefts  for  upwards 
of  a  year. 

No.  22,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  embezzlement  from 
his  master.  Once  taken  to  the  police  station  for 
repeated  thefts  and  forgery  ;  has  robbed  various 
masters  for  two  years  past ;  has  also  forged  his 
mother's  name  and  robbed  her. 

No.  23,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  vagrancy.  Admits 
having  been  several  times  in  custody  for  stealing. 

No.  24,  aged  1 5.— Convicted  of  theft  from  a  shop. 
One  of  a  gang  known  as  the  "  Forty  Thieves,"  leaders 
of  which  have  been  sent  to  the  reformatory  ship 
Cornwall  and  elsewhere.  Once  before  in  custody  for 
theft,  but  not  prosecuted  ;  was  concerned  in  a  robbery 
of  ^15  from  a  baker's  shop,  and  admits  robbing  tills, 
&c.,  for  three  years  past. 

No.  25,  aged  i4.^Convicted  of  stealing  from  his 
master.  For  the  last  two  years  he  has  been  in  bad 
company  and  connected  with  numerous  thefts. 

No.  26,  aged  13. — Convicted  of  being  on  enclosed 
premises  for  an  unlawful  purpose.  Once  charged 
with  stealing  papers,  but  dismissed  with  a  caution  ; 
for  two  years  past  has  frequented  the  company  of 
thieves  and  bad  companions. 

No.  27,  aged  13. — Convicted  with  No.  26  for  the 
same  offence.  Once  charged  with  wilful  damage  and 
cautioned  ;  has  been  three  times  at  a  truant  school. 


AGE  AND  JUVENILE   CRIME.  8 1 

No.  28,  aged  15. — Convicted  of  embezzlement. 
Admits  having  robbed  his  employers  for  at  least  eight 
months. 

No.  29,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  ;^58  from 
a  house ;  stole  £$  the  year  before,  and  has  robbed 
his  family  for  five  years  or  more. 

No.  30,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  eight 
brooches,  valued  at  ^^^15.  Previously  remanded  for 
stealing  apples ;  had  been  sent  to  a  boys'  home  for 
robbing  a  chapel,  and  has  lived  by  thieving  and 
begging  for  four  years. 

No.  31,  aged  11  J. — Convicted  of  cruelty  to  a  pig. 
Admits  habitually  thieving  and  associating  with 
young  thieves. 

No.  32,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  ^^3  from 
his  master.  Had  previously  been  remanded  for 
stealing  muzzles,  was  sent  to  a  voluntary  home, 
where  he  remained  twelve  months  ;  was  then  found  a 
place  in  a  school,  where  he  sold  the  books  and  kept 
the  money. 

No.  33,  aged  14. — Convicted  of  stealing  his 
master's  money.  Had  frequently  robbed  his  mother, 
and  admits  being  in  the  habit  of  thieving,  gambling, 
and  keeping  bad  company. 

If  the  offenders  committed  to  Redhill  Reformatory 
School  are  a  type  of  the  class  of  juveniles  committed 
to  reformatory  schools  generally,  it  is  evident  that 
the  great  bulk  of  them  are  on  the  way  to  become 
habitual  criminals,  and  are  only  stopped  short  by 
being  committed  to  correctional  institutions. 

According  to  the  drift  of  the  present  chapter,  which 
we  shall    now  proceed    to  sum  up,  the   form  which 


82  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

juvenile  crime  assumes  is  to  a  very  large  extent 
dependent  on  the  degree  of  maturity  which  the 
offender  has  attained.  The  very  young  offender  is 
prevented  by  physiological  incompleteness  from  being 
anything  but  a  vagrant  or  a  petty  thief,  and  we 
accordingly  find  that  in  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
cases  the  very  young  commence  their  criminal  career 
as  vagabonds  and  petty  thieves.  Mental  and 
physical  immaturity  makes  it  impossible  for  them  to 
be  serious  offenders  either  against  person  or  property  ; 
their  conduct  is  determined  by  biological  conditions, 
and  these  put  an  effectual  bar  to  anything  in  the 
shape  of  serious  crime.  As  the  mental  and  bodily 
faculties  of  the  young  approach  their  full  development 
the  capacity  for  committing  crime  increases  at  the 
same  ratio,  and  the  offences  of  juveniles  verging  upon 
manhood  assume  a  closer  resemblance  to  adult  crime. 
On  the  whole,  however,  juvenile  crime  always  remains 
less  grave  in  character  than  adult  crime,  but  it  must 
not  be  regarded  as  of  less  moment  on  this  account.  We 
have  already  pointed  out  how  very  quickly  the  erring 
juvenile  evolves  into  an  habitual  offender,  and  it  is  the 
habitual  offender  who  constitutes  the  greatest  danger 
to  society.  The  habitual  offender  is  the  criminal 
expert,  the  criminal  by  profession,  the  person  who 
makes  a  living  by  criminal  devices,  and  one  of  such 
men  will  commit  more  offences  in  a  year  than  twenty 
occasional  offenders.  An  offender  of  the  professional 
sort  will  also  effect  his  escape  in  a  surprisingly  large 
proportion  of  instances,  and  although  he  is  un- 
doubtedly caught  from  time  to  time,  he  generally 
manages   to   secure   the  services  of  able  counsel   to 


AG£   AND  JUVENILE    CRIME.  83 

defend  him,  and  even  if  he  is  convicted  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  is  seldom  calculated  to  induce  him  to 
abandon  his  criminal  mode  of  life.  In  many  cases  it 
is  perhaps  questionable  whether  the  old  offender  has 
the  power  within  him  to  abandon  his  sinister  career  ; 
it  is  the  life  he  has  led  from  a  child  ;  it  is  the  only- 
kind  of  life  he  is  thoroughly  at  home  in  ;  every  fibre 
of  his  mind  has  become  adapted  to  it,  and  the  life  of 
an  orderly,  well-conducted  citizen  is  irksome  to  him 
in  the  extreme.  A  criminal  of  this  type  almost 
invariably  begins  his  career  in  early  youth.  He 
begins  it  as  a  vagrant  and  petty  plunderer  of  odds 
and  ends,  but  he  finishes  his  apprenticeship  as  the 
expert  burglar  and  pickpocket  who  in  time  of  stress 
does  not  stick  at  taking  human  life.  It  is  therefore 
most  essential  in  the  interests  of  society,  and  also  in 
the  interests  of  the  individual,  that  juveniles  who  are 
exhibiting  a  pronounced  tendency  to  degenerate  into 
criminal  habits  should  be  carefully  dealt  with  before 
these  habits  have  had  time  to  become  confirmed. 
Once  the  mind  has  acquired  a  rigid  criminal  bent,  the 
task  of  reformation  becomes  difficult  in  the  extreme. 
But  if  the  task  of  reformation  is  undertaken  before 
criminal  tendencies  have  become  solidified  into  fixed 
criminal  habits,  it  is  certain,  if  properly  conducted,  to 
lead  to  a  satisfactory  amount  of  success. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  PHYSICAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE 
OFFENDERS. 

Official  reports  on  the  physical  condition  of  delinquent  juveniles — 
Death  and  mortal  illness  i-ate  in  juvenile  institutions — Mortality 
in  industrial  schools — Death  rate  among  boys— Mortal  illness 
rate — Death  rate  of  industrial  school  girls — Mortal  illness  rate — 
Difference  in  the  death  rate  among  boys  and  girls  in  industrial 
schools — Rejections  on  the  ground  of  disease — Proportion  of 
children  in  industrial  schools  descended  from  short-lived 
parents — Stature  of  industrial  school  children — Weight  of 
industrial  school  children — Dr.  Warner's  inquiries  as  to  indus- 
trial school  children — Conclusions  as  to  physical  condition  of 
industrial  school  children — Physical  condition  of  reformatory 
school  children — Death  and  illness  rates — Ratio  of  orphans^ 
Physical  condition  of  juvenile  prisoners — Physical  inferiority 
as  a  cause  of  crime. 

In  considering  the  effect  of  sex  and  age  on  the 
criminal  disposition  of  the  population  we  have  in 
reality  been  estimating,  in  no  small  measure,  the 
action  of  the  physical  organism  on  human  conduct. 
In  the  course  of  our  investigations  into  the  relations 
between  sex  and  crime  it  was  pointed  out  that  the 
differences  between  male  and  female  crime,  in  extent 
as  well  as  in  nature,  were  in  a  large  degree  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  disparities  which  exist  between 

the  bodily  constitution  of  the  two  sexes.    In  the  same 

84 


PHYSICAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.       85 

manner  it  was  pointed  out  in  dealing  with  the  efifect 
of  age  on  crime  that  the  state  of  development  at 
which  the  human  organism  had  ^arrived  exercised  a 
decisive  influence  on  the  anti-social  tendencies  of  the 
individual.  Both  sex  and  age  are  expressions  intended 
to  represent  certain  biological  conditions,  and  when 
it  is  shown  that  sex  and  age  have  a  considerable 
effect  on  the  criminal  tendencies  of  the  race,  this  is 
only  another  way  of  stating  that  biological  conditions 
are  directly  and  indirectly  an  important  factor  in 
determining  the  course  of  human  action.  But  sex 
and  age  do  not  exhaust  the  conditions  which  require 
to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  our  treatment  of  the 
problems  of  crime.  It  is  probable  that  certain  con- 
ditions of  a  more  or  less  pathological  character  may 
also  play  an  important  part  in  moving  the  springs  of 
conduct  in  a  criminal  direction.  In  order  to  ascer- 
tain whether  this  surmise  is  justified  or  not  let  us 
compare  (as  far  as  the  materials  at  our  disposal  will 
permit)  the  bodily  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  with 
the  bodily  state  of  juveniles  of  a  similar  age  who  have 
not  appeared  before  the  criminal  courts.  In  the 
annual  reports  of  the  inspector  of  reformatory  and 
industrial  schools  for  Great  Britain  we  have  some- 
times general  statements  to  the  effect  that  many  of 
the  children  admitted  to  these  institutions  are  en- 
feebled by  hereditary  maladies  or  by  poverty  and 
starvation,  but  nowhere  are  statistics  given  to  exhibit 
the  extent  of  this  enfeeblement. 

In  the  absence  of  precise  information  in  the  official 
returns  respecting  the  physical  condition  of  juveniles 
committed  to  reformatory  and   industrial   schools,  it 


86  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

devolves  upon  us  to  attempt  to  elucidate  this  im- 
portant matter  by  utilising  all  the  available  material 
which  indirectly  bears  upon  it.  Of  the  various  ele- 
ments of  which  this  material  is  composed  it  is 
probable  that  the  death  and  mortal  illness  rate  is 
one  of  the  most  important.  If  it  is  found  that  there 
is  a  greater  amount  of  mortality  among  juvenile 
offenders  than  among  the  general  population  of  a 
corresponding  age,  the  existence  of  this  fact  is  of 
itself  a  strong  presumption  that  the  army  of  juvenile 
offenders  is  composed  of  many  feeble  and  debilitated 
members.  What,  then,  is  the  present  rate  of  mortality 
in  our  industrial  schools  ?  How  does  it  stand  as 
compared  with  the  rate  of  mortality  among  juveniles 
at  large  ?  An  answer  to  these  questions  will  help  to 
bring  our  inquiries  to  a  definite  issue.  Let  us  deal 
first  with  the  death  rate  among  boys  in  English 
industrial  schools.  The  death  rate  among  industrial 
school  boys  in  England  amounted  to  an  annual 
average  of  4*0  per  thousand  in  the  five  years  1887-91. 
The  ages  at  which  children  are  admitted  into  in- 
dustrial schools  range  between  five  and  fifteen.  It 
is  true  that  fourteen  is  the  highest  age  at  which  a 
juvenile  is  legally  admissible,  but  in  reality  consider- 
able numbers  are  admitted  who  have  passed  that 
period  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  sixteen  is  the 
highest  age  at  which  an  industrial  school  child  can 
be  detained  without  its  own  consent.  These  being 
the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  may  be  stated  with 
a  reasonable  degree  of  accuracy  that  the  age  of 
children  in  industrial  schools  ranges  between  five  and 
fifteen  ;  the  death  rate  among  the  boys  of  this  popu- 


PHYSICAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.       8^ 

lation  is,  as  has  been  said,  4*2  annually  in  every 
thousand.  Now  what  is  the  death  rate  among  boys 
between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  in  the  population 
of  England  taken  as  a  whole,  and  for  a  similar  period 
of  time?  According  to  the  Registrar-General's  report 
it  appears  that  during  the  five  years  1887-91  the 
yearly  average  death  rate  between  five  and  fifteen 
was  37  per  thousand  of  the  boy  population. 

But  the  rate  of  mortality  among  the  inmates  of 
industrial  institutions  is  in  reality  considerably  higher 
than  the  returns  actually  disclose.  According  to  the 
thirty-third  report  of  the  inspector  of  reformatory 
schools  no  child  is  discharged  from  these  establish- 
ments whose  state  of  health  gives  reasonable  hope 
that  he  may  recover  with  proper  care.  It  may  there- 
fore be  considered  that  all  children  dismissed  from 
industrial  schools  on  account  of  illness  are  children 
who  are  likely  to  die.  They  are  sent  away  because 
their  recovery  is  looked  upon  as  hopeless.  In  these 
circumstances  it  is  very  essential  to  ascertain  what 
proportion  of  the  population  of  our  industrial  schools 
are  annually  sent  away  in  a  moribund  condition.  It 
is  only  after  this  fact  has  been  brought  to  light,  and 
the  moribund  rate  added  to  the  death  rate,  that  the 
actual  rate  of  mortality  in  industrial  schools  can  be 
ascertained.  According  to  the  returns  it  appears  that 
during  the  five  years  1887-91  an  annual  average  of 
47  per  thousand  of  the  male  industrial  school  popula- 
tion were  discharged  in  a  moribund  condition.  There- 
fore if  those  children  who  die  after  discharge  outside 
the  walls  of  industrial  schools  are  added  to  the 
numbers  who  die  inside  the  walls,  it  will  be  found  that 


88  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 


1 


the  actual  death  rate  of  industrial  school  inmates 
is  about  9  per  thousand.  The  death  rate  of  the 
general  juvenile  population  of  a  similar  age  is,  as  has 
already  been  stated,  only  37   per  thousand — that  is  \ 

to  say,  the  real  death  rate  among  industrial  schoof^.  •■; 
children  is  fully  twice  as  high  as  the  death  rate 
among  children  of  a  similar  age  outside.  Facts  of 
this  character  are  conclusive  evidence  that,  so  far  as 
the  death  rate  among  young  offenders  is  a  criterion 
of  their  physical  condition,  these  offenders  are  inferior 
physically  to  the  general  population  of  a  similar  age. 
After  this  inquiry  into  the  death  and  moribund  rate 
of  industrial  school  boys  it  now  behoves  us  to  take 
up  another  branch  of  the  same  subject  and  to  deal 
with  the  physical  condition  of  industrial  school  girls 
as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  annual  ratio  of  deaths  and 
discharges  on  account  of  mortal  illness.  For  the 
purposes  of  this  investigation  we  shall  select  the  same 
period  of  time  as  was  selected  in  the  case  of  boys,  that 
is  to  say,  the  five  years  1887-91.  During  these  five 
years  the  annual  average  death  rate  in  the  ranks  of 
English  industrial  school  girls  amounted  to  8'4  per 
thousand.  The  ages  at  which  girls  are  admitted  to 
industrial  schools  are  the  same  as  the  ages  of  admis- 
sion for  boys,  that  is  to  say,  between  five  and  fourteen. 
The  age  of  discharge  is  also  the  same,  that  is  to  say, 
sixteen.  For  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  death 
rate  in  English  girls'  industrial  schools  with  the  death 
rate  of  the  female  population  of  a  similar  age,  we  shall 
adopt  exactly  the  same  method  as  has  already  been 
adopted  in  the  case  of  boys  :  we  will  compare  the 
rate  of  mortality  in  girls'  industrial  schools  with  the 


PHYSICAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.        89 

rate  of  mortality  among  the  girl  population  of  England 
and  Wales  between  five  and  fifteen.  During  the  five 
years  1887-91  the  rate  of  female  mortality  between 
the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  amounted  to  a  yearly 
average  of  3-8  per  thousand.  The  average  mortality 
in  girls'  industrial  schools  in  England  and  Wales  is 
therefore  fully  twice  as  high  as  it  is  among  the  out- 
side population. 

From  the  death  rate  let  us  now  proceed  to  the 
number  discharged  from  female  industrial  schools  in 
England  on  account  of  mortal  illness.  During  the 
five  years  1887-91  the  annual  average  discharged  as 
diseased  amounted  to  3-9  per  thousand.  If  these 
moribund  children  are  added  to  the  numbers  who 
actually  die  within  the  walls  of  industrial  institutions 
it  raises  the  rate  of  mortality  among  the  female 
industrial  school  population  to  an  annual  average  of 
over  12  per  thousand.  It  is  manifest  from  these 
figures  that  the  rate  of  mortality  among  female 
offenders  committed  to  industrial  schools  is  im- 
mensely higher  than  the  rate  of  mortality  among 
female  children  of  a  similar  age  in  the  general  popu- 
lation. This  excessive  mortality  is  not,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  to  be  attributed  to  anything  in  the  shape  of 
harsh  treatment.  It  is  probable  that  the  majority 
of  girls  in  industrial  schools  are  much  better  treated 
than  they  had  ever  been  outside.  The  most  probable 
explanation  of  the  facts  is  that  the  physical  condition 
of  these  children  was  defective  to  start  with,  and  the 
high  death  rate  among  them  is  one  of  the  ways  in 
which  this  defective  physical  condition  exhibits  itself. 
In  the  course  of  this  inquiry  it  has  been  seen  that 


90  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

the  death  and  moribund  rate  in  boys'  industrial  schools 
amounts  to  an  annual  average  of  9  per  thousand, 
whilst  in  girls'  industrial  schools  the  death  and  mori- 
bund rate  amounts  to  12  per  thousand.  Why  is  the 
rate  so  much  higher  among  girls  than  among  boys  ? 
The  death  rate  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  general  popu- 
lation during  the  period  we  have  selected  for  com- 
parison is  almost  exactly  the  same.  What  then  can 
be  the  reason  why  girls  committed  to  industrial 
schools  are  more  apt  to  die  than  boys  ?  It  is  prob- 
able that  one  of  the  causes  of  the  difference  in  the 
rate  of  mortality  among  female  as  compared  with 
male  industrial  school  children  is  owing  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  female  children  committed  to  indus- 
trial schools  are  less  frequently  rejected  on  account 
of  physical  infirmity  than  is  the  case  with  boys  sent 
to  similar  institutions.  It  is  an  understood  principle 
among  industrial  school  authorities  that  children 
manifestly  unfitted  for  industrial  training  are  not  to 
be  accepted  ;  it  accordingly  happens  that  a  certain 
percentage  of  cases  are  annually  rejected  on  the 
eround  that  the  children  are  too  weak  and  feeble  to 
derive  any  substantial  benefit  from  the  course  of 
industrial  training  provided  for  the  inmates  of  these 
institutions.  Our  industrial  school  returns  are  per- 
fectly silent  as  to  the  percentage  of  rejections  on  the 
score  of  disease  and  debility.  A  return  of  this  kind 
ought  to  be  furnished  to  the  public.  When  a  magis- 
trate, in  the  exercise  of  his  discretion,  decides  that  a 
child  coming  before  him  is  to  be  detained  for  a  certain 
specified  period  in  an  industrial  school,  it  is  impera- 
tive that  he  as  well  as  the  general  public  should  know 


PHYSICAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.      9 1 

what  actually  does  become  of  that  child.  As  far  as 
the  general  public  are  concerned  it  is  certain  that  at 
the  present  moment  they  do  not  possess  this  infor- 
mation ;  the  child  is  committed  by  the  magistrate  to 
the  school,  but  whether  he  is  actually  admitted  is  a 
matter  which  we  have  at  present  no  ready  means  of 
verifying.  In  these  circumstances  it  is  impossible  to 
say  what  percentage  of  boys  is  rejected  and  what 
percentage  of  girls,  but  it  is  probable  that  a  larger 
number  of  boys  are  refused  admission  by  reason  of 
physical  v.^eakness  than  girls,  and  if  this  be  the  case 
it  at  once  explains  the  difference  in  the  rate  of 
mortality  between  boys  and  girls  in  our  industrial 
institutions.  If  a  larger  percentage  of  physically 
enfeebled  female  children  are  admitted  than  is  the 
case  with  boys,  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
there  will  be  a  higher  rate  of  mortality  among  them. 
This  inquiry  into  the  disparity  between  the  death 
and  disease  rate  of  industrial  school  boys  and  girls 
inclines  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  death  rate  among 
girls  is  in  all  likelihood  the  most  accurate  test  of  the 
extent  of  mortality  among  juvenile  offenders  of  tender 
years,  and  it  illustrates  the  serious  amount  of  bodily 
decadence  which  prevails  among  juveniles  addicted 
to  crime. 

In  addition  to  the  test  afforded  by  the  death  and 
mortal  illness  rate  a  valuable  criterion  is  to  be  found 
in  the  ratio  of  orphans  in  the  industrial  school  popu- 
lation. Premature  death,  when  not  produced  by 
violence,  is  a  sure  sign  of  feeble  vitality,  and  if  it  is 
ascertained  to  be  the  fact  that  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  industrial    school  children  have   lost  one  or 


92  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

both  parents,  this  fact  may  be  accepted  as  a  fairly- 
accurate  indirect  proof  that  these  children  are  de- 
scended from  a  degenerate  stock.  Marriage  usually 
takes  place  at  a  comparatively  early  age  among  that 
section  of  the  community  whose  children  find  their 
way  into  industrial  schools.  The  parents  of  industrial 
school  children  do  not  require  to  be  long  lived  in 
order  to  see  their  families  arrive  at  maturity,  and 
they  must  be  very  short  lived  indeed  if  they  die 
before  their  children  have  attained  the  age  of  fourteen. 

To  what  extent  are  the  inmates  of  industrial  schools 
sprung  from  short-lived  parents?  In  order  to  answer 
this  question  we  shall  take  the  number  of  children 
admitted  during  the  five  years  1887-91  who  have 
lost  one  or  both  parents.  In  the  period  which  has 
just  been  mentioned  21,357  children  of  both  sexes 
were  received  into  English  and  Scotch  industrial 
schools  (excluding  day  industrial  schools),  and  of 
this  number  no  fewer  than  8,377  h^cl  either  one  or  0 
both  parents  dead.  In  other  words,  39  in  every  icxD 
of  the  inmates  of  our  industrial  schools  are  either 
totally  or  partially  orphaned.  The  fact  that  the  ratio 
of  orphans  in  industrial  schools  is  so  high  is  a  sure 
sign  that  these  children  are  the  offspring  of  a  deca- 
dent stock  ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  weaknesses  of  the 
parent  are  very  frequently  handed  down  to  the  child, 
.  we  must  expect  to  find  a  large  number  of  the  delin- 
quent population  in  industrial  schools  burdened  with 
diseased  and  debilitated  constitutions. 

Hitherto  we  have  been  dealing  with  facts  and  in- 
ferences drawn  from  the  industrial  school  population 
as  a  whole ;    let  us   supplement   this   material  with 


PHYSICAL   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.       93 

more    detailed    information    respecting   the    physical 
condition   of  industrial    school    inmates    in    some   of 
the   schools.     The    stature  of   a  child    is    as    a    rule 
a    fairly  effective  test  of   its   ph}'sical  condition.     If 
a  child  is  puny  and  undergrown    it    may  safely  be 
accepted  as  a  sign  that  it  has  been  living  under  con- 
ditions   unfavourable    to   vitality,  or  that   it  has  in- 
herited   these  conditions   from   its    parents.     Among 
industrial  school  children  both  of  these  conditions  are 
usually  present.     Some  years  ago  a  committee  was 
appointed  by  the  British  Association  for  the  purpose 
of  collecting  observations   of  a  systematic  character 
as  to  the  height,  weight,  and  other  physical  charac- 
teristics of  the  inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles.     The 
results  of  this  inquiry  were  published  in  the  year  1883. 
Among  other  information  the  report  of  the  committee 
contains  a  table  showing  the  relativ^e  statures  of  boys 
between  eleven  and  twelve  in  the  general  population 
and  in  industrial  schools.     Among  the  general  popu- 
lation boys  in  public  schools  are  the  tallest  for  their 
age  ;    next   in   order  of  height  are  boys   in   middle- 
class  schools  ;  after  them  the  children  in  elementary 
schools   and    military   asylums  ;    last   of    all   are  the 
children  in  industrial  schools.     Between  the  children 
in  public  schools  and  the  children  in  industrial  schools 
there  is  a  difference  of  no  less  than  five  inches.     The 
total  number  of  children  measured  is  not  very  large, 
and  observation  on  a  somewhat  wider   scale   might 
produce  slightly  different  results.     It  is  probable  that 
the   differences   would  be   comparatively  minute  ;   in 
all  observations  of  this  nature  it  is  remarkable  how 
little  the  ultimate  result  is  affected  by  increasing  the 


94  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

numbers  submitted  to  examination.  According  to 
the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Mental  and 
Physical  Conditions  of  Childhood  the  proportion  of 
abnormally  small  children  in  industrial  schools  is 
higher  than  among  any  other  class  of  English 
children.  This  Committee  examined  about  two 
thousand  children  in  these  institutions.  As  far, 
then,  as  stature  is  concerned  we  may  very  safely 
conclude  that  industrial  school  children  are  con- 
siderably below  the  average  of  the  juvenile  popula- 
tion in  the  general  community.  And  in  so  far  as 
defective  stature  is  a  criterion  of  physical  degeneracy, 
it  is  unquestionable  that  the  delinquent  population  in 
industrial  institutions  suffer  from  defects  of  develop- 
ment. 

Another  very  valuable  index  of  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  industrial  school  population  is  weight. 
In  this  respect  all  classes  of  the  ordinary  population 
of  a  similar  age  surpass  the  industrial  school  inmates. 
According  to  the  report  of  the  Anthropometric  Com- 
mittee of  the  British  Association  (1883)  industrial 
school  boys  of  the  age  of  fourteen  are  nearly  seven 
inches  shorter  of  stature  and  24!  pounds  lighter  in 
weight  than  juveniles  of  the  same  age  in  the  general 
population.  Whether  we  compare  the  children  in 
industrial  schools  with  the  general  population  of  all 
classes,  or  with  any  class  in  particular,  it  will  be 
found  in  every  instance  that  as  regards  weight  these 
juveniles  are  distinctly  inferior  to  every  other  section 
of  the  youthful  population.  A  large  proportion  of 
industrial  school  boys  and  girls  are,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  in  a  preceding  chapter,  drawn  from  the 


PHYSICAL    CO  XD  IT  I  ON   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.       95 

towns  ;  and  if  these  children  are  normally  developed 
we  should  expect  them  to  come  up  to  the  standard  of 
town  children  of  the  artisan  classes.  But  both  in  height 
and  weight  they  fall  considerably  short  of  this  stan- 
dard. No  matter  what  year  we  select,  between  six 
and  sixteen  the  industrial  school  child  is  always 
below  the  average.  It  is  the  same  with  females  as 
with  males.  Often  inferior  in  weight  as  well  as  in 
stature  to  the  class  from  which  he  springs,  the  juvenile 
offender  in  our  industrial  schools  must  accordingly  be 
set  down  as,  in  many  cases,  a  decadent  member  of 
the  community,  not  only  from  a  moral,  but  also  from 
a  physical  point  of  view. 

The  recent  researches  of  Dr.  Warner  as  to  the 
physical  and  mental  condition  of  children  confirm 
the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  British  Association 
with  respect  to  industrial  school  children.  Dr.  Warner 
found  that,  with  the  exception  of  children  in  Irish 
schools,  there  is  a  larger  percentage  of  abnormal 
children  in  industrial  schools  than  in  any  other 
class  of  schools.  Dr.  Warner  examined  nearly  two( 
thousand  children  of  both  sexes  in  industrial  schools 
in  London  and  the  country,  and  of  this  number  591, 
or  rather  more  than  29  per  cent,  presented  physical  or 
mental  defects.  In  English  day  schools  the  number 
of  children  who  were  either  physically  or  mentally 
defective  only  amounted  to  17  per  cent.  The  defects 
noted  by  Dr.  Warner  consisted  of  smallness  of  stature, 
smallness  of  head,  affections  of  the  eye,  affections  of 
the  nervous  system,  defects  of  development,  exces- 
sive paleness  or  thinness,  and  mental  dulness. 

Let  us  now  summarise  the  results  of  this  inquiry 


96  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

into  the  physical  condition  of  offenders  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  sixteen  committed  to  industrial  insti- 
tutions. It  has  been  pointed  out  that  our  only  means 
of  testing  the  physical  condition  of  the  total  popu- 
lation of  these  institutions  is  by  comparing  the  death 
and  mortal  illness  rate  which  prevails  in  them  with 
the  death  rate  of  the  general  community  of  a  similar 
age.  The  application  of  this  criterion  discloses  the 
fact  that  the  death  rate  in  the  general  male  popula- 
tion between  five  and  fifteen  amounts,  for  the  period 
under  examination,  to  37  per  thousand  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  the  death  and  mortal  illness  rate  in  boys'  in- 
dustrial schools  is  as  high  as  9  per  thousand.  The 
death  rate  of  girls  between  five  and  fifteen  in 
the  general  population  is  3-8  per  thousand  ;  the 
death  and  disease  rate  of  girls  in  the  industrial 
school  population  is  12  per  thousand.  From  this 
vast  difference  in  the  ratio  of  mortality  between 
the  outside  population  and  the  inmates  of  industrial 
schools  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the  industrial 
school  population  is  composed  of  a  much  higher 
percentage  of  juveniles  of  feeble  frames  and  feeble 
vitality  than  the  population  as  a  whole.  Our  next 
conclusion  is  not  based  on  an  examination  of  the 
whole  of  the  industrial  school  population  ;  it  is  based 
on  an  examination  of  the  inmates  of  certain  selected 
schools.  This  conclusion  is  that  both  as  regards 
height  and  weight  the  children  in  industrial  schools 
are  inferior  to  children  in  the  general  population,  no 
matter  from  what  class  these  children  are  drawn. 
Passing  from  height  and  weight  to  anomalies  as  a 
whole,  our  next  conclusion  is  that,  with  the  exception 


PHYSICAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.        97 

of  children  in  Irish  schools,  the  inmates  of  our  in- 
industrial  institutions  present  a  higher  percentage 
of  ph}-sical  and  mental  shortcomings  than  school 
children  taken  as  a  whole.  According  to  Dr. 
Warner,  and  speaking  in  round  numbers,  no  less 
than  thirty  industrial  school  children  in  every 
hundred  are  more  or  less  defective  either  mentally 
or  physically.  Coupling  this  fact  with  the  additional 
fact  that  39  per  cent,  of  the  entire  industrial  school 
population  are  without  one  or  both  parents,  it  is 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  a  considerable  proportion 
of  these  children  are  the  victims  of  hereditary  or 
acquired  infirmity. 

Up  to  the  present  we  have  been  dealing  with  the 
bodily  condition  of  young  offenders  under  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Let  us  enter  upon  another  branch  of 
the  same  subject,  and  find  out  what  we  can  about  the 
physical  state  of  juveniles  up  to  the  age  of  maturity. 
Information  upon  this  point  is  to  a  certain  extent 
available  in  the  returns  relating  to  reformatory 
schools.  At  the  present  time  the  population  of 
these  institutions  is  mainly  composed  of  juveniles 
between  the  ages  of  ten  and  twenty.  The  number 
sent  to  reformatories  under  the  age  of  ten  is  now  so 
small  that  they  will  not  materially  affect  the  result 
of  our  inquiries.  In  our  examination  of  the  physical 
condition  of  the  industrial  school  population  it  will 
be  recollected  that  the  death  and  mortal  illness  rate 
was  taken  as  the  first  test.  A  similar  method  will  be 
followed  with  respect  to  the  inmates  of  reformatory 
schools.  The  death  and  mortal  illness  rate  in  refor- 
matory institutions  will  be  compared  with  the  ratio 


98  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  mortality  among  the  general  population  of  a  cor- 
responding period  of  life.  The  amount  of  mortality 
among  boys  in  the  general  population  between  the 
ages  of  ten  and  twenty  for  the  five  years  1887-91 
was  at  the  rate  of  3*4  per  thousand.  The  vast  bulk 
of  the  inhabitants  of  our  reformatories  range  between 
the  ages  of  ten  and  twenty  ;  the  death  and  mortal 
illness  rate  among  this  population  for  the  five  years 
1887-91  will  supply  us  with  materials  for  forming 
a  tolerably  accurate  comparison  between  them  and 
the  outside  community.  For  the  five  years  just  men- 
tioned the  annual  average  of  deaths  in  boys'  refor- 
matory schools  amounted  to  4*2  per  thousand,  and 
the  annual  average  of  inmates  discharged  on  account 
of  mortal  disease  amounted  to  4*2  per  thousand. 
According  to  these  figures,  if  the  discharges  on 
account  of  mortal  illness  are  added,  the  death  rate 
among  reformatory  boys  is  fully  twice  as  high  as  the 
mortality  among  the  general  community.  Very  similar 
results  are  obtained  by  comparing  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality  arnongT?TbrT!lilory  school  girls  with  the  average 
mortality  of  the  female  population  in  general  of  a 
like  age.  For  the  five  years  1887-91  the  yearly 
rate  of  mortality  among  the  female  members  of  the 
general  community  between  the  ages  of  ten  and 
twenty  amounted  to  3*5  per  thousand.  During  the 
same  period  the  yearly  death  rate  in  girls'  refor- 
matories amounted  to  5-0  per  thousand ;  the  dis- 
charges on  account  of  mortal  disease  were  7.0  per 
thousand.  If  the  actual  deaths  and  the  discharges 
from  mortal  illness  are  added  together  it  will  be 
found    that   the  mortality  among   the   female  refor- 


PHYSICAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.       99 

matory  school  population  is  between  three  and  foui 
times  as  high  as  the  mortahty  among  the  ordinary 
female  population  of  a  similar  age.  In  so  far,  then, 
as  the  rate  of  mortality  is  to  be  accepted  as  a  cri- 
terion of  the  physical  state  of  juveniles  committed  to 
reformatories,  it  must  be  concluded  that  there  is  a 
much  higher  proportion  of  feeble  youth  of  both  sexes 
in  these  institutions  than  in  the  outside  world.  As 
regards  the  amount  of  mortality  among  all  classes  of 
juvenile  offenders  the  reformatory  returns  harmonise 
with  the  returns  from  industrial  schools.  In  the  light 
of  these  returns  it  is  evident  that  from  childhood  up 
to  manhood  the  delinquent  population  loses  a  higher 
proportion  of  its  numbers  than  the  juvenile  population 
as  a  whole.  As  a  class  juvenile  offenders  are  distinctly 
more  degenerate  than  the  rest  of  the  community. 

The  death  rate  among  reformatory  school  inmates 
is  not  the  only  test  of  the  decadent  condition  of  many 
of  these  youthful  offenders.  As  in  the  case  of  indus- 
trial schools  we  are  able  to  estimate  this  ondition  in 
an  indirect  manner  by  looking  at  the  proportion  of 
iuveniles  in  reformatories  who  have  lost  one  or  both 
parents  at  the  time  of  their  committal.  According 
to  the  returns  for  the  five  years  1887-91  the  num- 
ber of  young  people  under  the  age  of  sixteen  who 
had  lost  one  or  both  parents  when  admitted  to  refor- 
matories amounted  to  a  yearly  average  of  33  per 
cent.  In  round  numbers  one  in  every  three  is 
descended  at  least  from  one  parent,  and  in  many 
cases  from  both  parents  who  have  died  young.  It  is 
reasonable  to  infer  from  this  fact  that  a  very  con- 
siderable percentage  of  the  inmates  of  reformatory 


100  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

schools  are  the  offspring  of  a  degenerate  race  either 
on  the  father's  or  the  mother's  side,  and  the  high 
mortahty  in  reformatories  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
in  many  cases  the  physical  infirmities  of  the  parents 
have  been  handed  down  to  the  children. 

Juveniles  in  prisons,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  arrive 
at  the  facts,  are  very  similar  in  their  physical  charac- 
teristics to  juveniles  committed  to  reformatory  schools. 
In  a  return  dealing  with  the  social  and  physical  con- 
dition of  a  hundred  juvenile  prisoners  between  the 
ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen  prepared  by  me  for  the 
Departmental  Committee  on  Prisons,  it  was  shown 
that  the  average  stature  of  these  young  people  was 
from  one  to  two  inches  lower  than  the  average  stature 
of  town  artisans  of  a  similar  age.  It  was  between 
three  and  four  inches  lower  than  the  average  stature 
of  the  general  population  of  a  similar  age.  The 
average  weight  of  these  juvenile  offenders  was  also 
inferior  to  the  average  weight  of  the  town  population 
of  a  similar  age,  as  well  as  of  the  population  as  a 
whole  of  a  similar  age.  The  parental  condition  of 
these  juveniles  also  sheds  light  upon  the  sort  of 
stock  from  which  they  spring.  Almost  one-third 
of  them  (32  per  cent.)  had  one  or  both  parents 
dead.  Whether  we  look  at  the  physical  conditions 
of  the  juvenile  population  in  prisons,  in  reformatory 
schools,  or  in  industrial  schools,  we  are  always  con- 
fronted with  a  similar  set  of  facts.  We  find  in  each 
case  that  the  delinquent  population  of  these  estab- 
lishments is  on  the  whole  composed  of  a  larger  per- 
centage of  inferior  physical  material  than  the  general 
population. 


PHYSICAL    COXDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     10 1 

Many  important  conclusions  may  be  drawn  from 
these  facts.  At  present  we  shall  content  ourselves 
with  mentioning  only  one. 

It  is  very  obvious  that  the  defective  physical  capacity 
which  exists  among  one-half  of  the  juvenile  prison 
population  must  have  a  detrimental  effect  upon  their 
industrial  career.     x'\ll  these  young  people  are  mem- 
bers of  a  class  who  have  to  live  by  the  labour  of  their 
hands.     Bone  and  muscle  is  their  stock-in-trade.     If 
they  are  deficient    in    these   indispensable  requisites 
they  are  in  the  position  of  a  shopman  who  is  offering 
inferior  articles    for   sale.     Intending   customers  will 
pass  them   by  and   make   their  purchases  elsewhere. 
Although  inferiority  in  weight  and  stature  is  by  no 
means  an  infallible  index  of  physical  incapacity,  yet 
it  is  the  rough-and-ready  test  which  usually  obtains 
in  the  labour  market,  and  deficiencies  in  this  respect 
are  adverse  to  a  workman's  chances  of  getting  em- 
ployment.   Just  as  the  biological  law  of  natural  selec- 
tion has  a  tendency  to  exterminate  the  weak,  so  has 
what    may    be    called   the    economic    law    of  indus- 
trial   selection    a   similar    tendency    to   exclude   the 
apparently    feeble    from    the    labours,    and    therefore 
from  the  rewards,  of  industrial  life.     One  of  the  con- 
sequences of  this  exclusion,  whether  partial  or  total, 
is   that  the  victims  of   it  are  never   properly  incor- 
porated in  the  army  of  labour.     They  hang  upon  its 
outskirts,  and    are   compelled   to  live  by  picking  up 
what  the  ordinary  artisan  has  left  behind.     At  best 
this  is  a  very  precarious  kind  of  existence,  and  at  the 
worst  it  ceases  to  yield  a   livelihood   in  any  shape. 
When  matters  take  this  turn  the  decadent  juvenile, 


I02  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

even  if  he  has  no  pronounced  criminal  bent  of  mind, 
is  very  apt  to  drift  into  criminal  courses.  Two  alter- 
natives are  before  him — the  life  of  a  pauper  or  the 
life  of  a  criminal.  In  some  cases  the  pauper  life  is 
temporarily  adopted,  in  other  cases  crime  is  resorted 
to,  and  not  infrequently  we  find  a  combination  of 
both.  The  results  of  personal  experience  among 
large  numbers  of  juvenile  offenders,  as  well  as  the 
evidence  just  furnished  by  statistical  investigations, 
have  for  many  years  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion 
that  among  the  many  causes  which  produce  a  criminal 
life  the  physical  inferiority  of  the  offender  is  one  of 
the  most  important. 


1 

1 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  MENTAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE 
OFFENDERS. 

Difficulties  of  the  subject — Methods  of  inquiry — Relation  between 
physical  and  mental  condition — Connection  between  bodily 
and  mental  degeneration  —  Mental  heredity  of  juvenile 
offenders — Mental  condition  of  parents  of  juvenile  offenders 
— Mental  acquirements  of  juvenile  offenders — Parental  control 
of  juvenile  offenders — Effect  of  adverse  circumstances  on 
character— Mental  surroundings  of  juvenile  offenders — Mental 
characteristics  of  juvenile  offenders. 

IN  entering  upon  an  inquiry  into  the  mental  condi- 
tion of  juvenile  offenders  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  mental  powers  and  capacities  cannot  be  gauged 
with  the  same  accuracy  as  physical.  Mental  states 
are  invisible  and  impalpable  ;  they  belong  to  the 
world  of  immaterial  realities  ;  we  cannot  weigh  and 
measure  them  in  the  same  fashion  as  we  are  able  to 
weigh  and  measure  the  bones  and  muscles  which 
compose  the  material  substance  of  the  human  organi- 
sation. Mental  conditions,  in  addition  to  being  much 
more  difficult  to  gauge  than  physical  conditions,  are 
also  more  difficult  to  compare.  The  average  standard 
of  stature  is  known  with  comparative  ease  and  accu- 
racy, and  it  is  not  hard  to  ascertain  whether  a  certain 

103 


I04  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

section  of  the  community  rises  above  it  or  falls  below 
it.  But  the  average  standards  of  character  and  in- 
telligence are  not  easy  to  estimate,  and  it  becomes 
a  matter  of  corresponding  difficulty  to  show  in  what 
relation  a  definite  portion  of  the  population  stands 
towards  these  standards.  In  any  estimate  of  the 
mental  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  we  must 
therefore  be  content  with  approximations  of  a  more 
or  less  accurate  nature.  On  the  one  hand  we  must 
not  forget  that  they  are  only  approximations,  and  on 
the  other  these  approximations  must  not  be  under- 
estimated because  they  have  no  pretension  to  be 
mathematically  exact. 

There  are  several  ways  in  which  the  mental  con- 
dition of  juvenile  offenders  admits  of  examination. 
The  co-relation,  sympathy  and  dependence  which 
exist  between  body  and  mind  is  exceedingly  intimate, 
and  the  intimacy  of  this  connection  enables  us  to 
arrive  at  some  sort  of  results  respecting  mental 
conditions  as  the  outcome  of  inquiries  into  concomi- 
tant physical  conditions.  In  the  next  place,  mental 
conditions  may  be  illustrated  by  inquiries  into 
mental  inheritance.  The  mental  faculties  of  the 
offspring  tend  to  resemble  the  mental  faculties  of 
the  parent.  Whatever  light  can  be  obtained  as  to 
the  mental  faculties  of  the  parents  of  juvenile 
offenders  will  be  of  value  to  us  in  our  attempts  to 
appraise  the  mental  faculties  of  these  juveniles  them- 
selves. Finally,  if  the  result  of  our  inquiry  into  the 
mental  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  on  the  lines 
just  indicated  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
are  in  some  respects  abnormally  constituted,  it  will 


MENTAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.      IO5 

be  our  business  to  ascertain  in  what  these  abnor- 
malities consist.  That  is  to  say,  we  shall  try  to  ascer- 
tain in  what  respect  and  to  what  extent  the  mind  of 
the  juvenile  offender  varies  from  minds  of  the  ordi- 
nary type. 

First,  then,  What  does  the  physical  condition  of 
juvenile  offenders  teach  us  as  to  their  mental  condi- 
tion? With  respect  to  physical  condition  it  has  been 
pointed  out  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  mor- 
tality among  juveniles  in  reformatory  and  industrial 
schools  is  hig4ier  than  the  mortality  among  the 
general  population  of -a  similar  age.  It  has  also 
been  pointed  out  that  the  juvenile  prison  population, 
as  a  whole,  are  under  the  average  height  and  under 
the  average  weight  of  the  general  community  at  the 
same  period  of  life.  Lastly,  it  has  been  shown  that 
a  high  percentage  of  these  juveniles  are  descended 
from  such  a  feeble  stock,  that  over  30  per  cent,  of 
the  industrial  school,  reformatory  school,  and  prison 
population  have  lost  one  or  both  parents  in  early  life. 
Therefore,  whether  we  look  at  these  juveniles  from 
the  point  of  view  of  parentage,  or  from  the  point  of 
view  of  actual  physical  condition,  the  conclusion  is 
in  each  case  forced  upon  us  that  a  high  percentage 
of  the  youthful  delinquent  population  is  more  feebly 
developed  on  the  physical  side,  and  more  liable  to 
-Succumb  to  the  attacks  of  disease  than  juveniles  of 
■  a  similar  age  in  the  general  community.  In  other 
words,  the  physical  basis  of  mental  life  is  in  a  worse 
condition  amongst  juvenile  offenders  as  a  body  than 
amongst  the  ordinary  population  at  the  same  stage 
of  existence. 


I06  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

What  do  these  facts  respecting  the  physical  state 
of  juvenile  offenders  teach  us  as  to  their  mental  state. 
Let  us  admit  at  the  outset  that  bodily  vigour  is  not 
f  always  to  be  accepted  as  an  accurate  criterion  of 
mental  vigour  ;  neither  is  bodily  enfeeblement  always 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  proof  of  mental  incapacity. 
Instances  are  not  wanting  to  show  that  individuals 
may  be  possessed  of  a  vigorous  and  well-compacted 
frame,  and  yet  fall  below  the  usual  level  of  character 
and  intelligence.  And  on  the  other  hand  there  are 
cases  in  which  considerable  mental  capacity  is  accom- 
panied by  defective  bodily  development.  While  duly 
recognising  these  facts,  and  assigning  them  the 
fullest  possible  significance,  it  must  nevertheless  be 
maintained  that  bodily  degeneration  has  a  tendency 
to  produce  mental  degeneration,  and  that  there  is 
often  a  concomitance  between  the  two.  The  conco- 
mitance, as  we  have  just  stated,  is  not  by  any  means 
universal,  but  it  is  sufficiently  frequent  to  show  that 
there  is  a  connection  between  bodily  and  physical 
development. 

We  now  come  to  the  further  question,  In  what 
does  the  connection  and  sympathy  between  body 
and  mind  consist?  This  is  a  question  to  which  a 
complete  answer  cannot  in  the  present  state  of  know- 
ledge be  given.  All  that  we  can  say  with  certainty 
is  that  there  is  a  wide-extending  co-relation  between 
physical  and  mental  processes.  Whether  this  co- 
relation  holds  good  in  every  case — whether,  that  is 
to  say,  every  physical  process  has  its  corresponding 
mental  counterpart,  and  every  mental  process  its 
corresponding  physical  counterpart — is  a  matter  which 


MENTAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.     10/ 

it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  decide.  But  whether 
the  co-relation  of  psycho-ph)  sicdl  processes  is  of 
universal  validity  or  not,  it  is  sufficiently  valid  to 
establish  the  fact  that  where  bodily  processes  are 
enfeebled  mental  processes  are  generally  enfeebled 
too.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  some  parts  of  the 
organism  are  more  intimately  concerned  in  mental 
processes  than  other  parts.  This  is  the  case  in 
particular  with  the  brain  and  the  nerves.  But  the 
nervous  system  is  in  turn  placed  in  the  closest 
relationship  with  the  organs  of  movement,  the  organs 
of  sense,  and  the  vegetative  organs.  It  affects  them 
and  is  affected  by  them :  hence  it  follows  that  a 
healthy  condition  of  mind  is  not  dependent  merely 
on  the  nervous  system,  but  on  all  the  organs  which 
constitute  the  human  frame.  In  other  words,  the 
body  as  a  whole  is  the  seat  and  physical  basis  of 
mind,  and  it  is  incorrect  to  speak  of  mind  as  being 
exclusively  centred  in  any  of  its  parts.  In  cases, 
therefore,  in  which  the  seat  of  mind  is  unsound,  in 
cases  where  it  is  badly  nourished  and  imperfectly 
developed,  we  have,  in  accordance  with  the  psycho- 
physical law  of  co-relation  between  bodily  and 
mental  processes  a  dull  and  undeveloped  conscious 
life.  A  large  percentage  of  juvenile  offenders  are, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  this  condition  of  imperfect 
development  and  depressed  vitality.'  If  we  estimate 
their  mental  competence  by  the  physical  basis  on 
which  it  reposes,  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
at '  least  a  third  of  these  juveniles  are  below  the 
average  healthy  standard  in  general  mental  power. 
The  next  step  in  our  examination  of  the  mental 


I08  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

condition  of  juvenile  offenders  consists  in  inquiring 
into  the  mental  condition  of  the  parents.  The  fact 
is  notorious  that  bodily  characteristics  are  handed 
down  from  parent  to  child.  Not  only  is  there  a 
general  resemblance  between  the  physical  aspect  of 
parents  and  offspring,  there  is  often  a  reappearance 
of  minute  peculiarities,  features,  and  idiosyncrasies. 
The  similarity  between  parents  and  offspring  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  the  essential  material 
of  which  the  offspring  is  constituted  owes  its  origin 
to  the  parents.  This  similarity  is  not  confined  to 
physical  characteristics  ;  mental^^characteristics  as 
well  as  physical  conformation  are  a  legacy  from  the 
parents  to  the  child.  Mental  inheritance  is  as  real 
as  bodily  inheritance.  Our  innate  constitutional 
congenital  qualities  of  mind  are  as  much  a  product 
of  inheritance  as  our  constitutional  qualities  of  body. 
Accordingly,  an  acquaintance  with  the  mental  condi- 
tion of  the  parents  of  juvenile  offenders  will  teach 
us  something  as  to  the  mental  condition  of  their 
children. 

A  very  good  way  of  testing  the  mental  condition 
of  the  parents  on  the  moral  side  is  to  look  at  the 
number  of  cases  in  which  the  parents  fail  to  fulfil 
the  elementary  duties  of  parenthood.  Parents  fail 
to  perform  these  elementary  duties  when  they  are 
criminals,  when  they  desert  their  offspring,  when  they 
leave  them  uncontrolled.  Of  the  number  of  young 
offenders  committed  to  reformatories  in  the  year  1891 
there  were,  as  near  as  it  is  possible  to  calculate,  32  per 
cent,  descended  on  one  or  both  sides  from  parents  who 
neglected  to  control  them,  or  deserted  them,  or  were 


MENTAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     IO9 

in  prison  for  crime.  In  so  far,  then,  as  moral  defects 
are  a  product  of  heredity,  and  in  so  far  as  parents 
transmit  these  defects  to  their  offspring,  32  per  cent, 
of  the  juvenile  offenders  in  reformatories  are  more 
or  less  in  danger  of  having  inherited  obtuseness  of 
moral  sentiment.  Another  test  of  the  defective 
moral  status  of  the  parents  of  juvenile  offenders 
committed  to  reformatories  is  to  be  found  in  the 
meagre  educat[onal  acquirements  of  these  young 
people.  Seventeen  in  every  hundred  of  the  juveniles 
sent  to  reformatory  schools  in  1891  were  unable  to 
read  or  write,  and  seventy  in  every  hundred  could 
only  read  or  write  imperfectly.  That  is  to  say,  only 
13  per  cent,  of  the  children  sent  to  reformatories  had 
received  an  ordinary  school  board  education.  The 
defective  state  of  education  among  reformatory  school 
inmates  which  these  statistics  reveal  is  in  some 
measure  to  be  attributed  to  the  defective  mental 
capacity  of  the  children  themselves.  But  deficiency 
in  ordinary  mental  capacity  is  only  a  partial  explana- 
tion of  the  facts.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  many 
of  these  children  are  wholly  ignorant  or  badly  edu- 
cated owing  to  parental  neglect.  And  in  so  far  as 
neglect  to  bestow  the  elements  of  education  on  the 
child  is  to  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  moral  obliquity  in 
the  parent,  it  is  unquestionable  that  at  least  50  per 
cent,  of  the  parents  of  juvenile  offenders  are  in  this 
condition.  According  to  the  doctrine  of  mental 
inheritance,  parents  often  hand  down  their  moral 
defects  in  a  more  or  less  pronounced  form  to  many 
of  their  children.  (We  may  therefore  say  on  the 
grounds  of  heredity  that  a  considerable  proportion 
9 


I  lO  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  juvenile  offenders  come  into  the  world  with  defec- 
tive moral  instincts,  and  that  their  deficiencies  in 
this  respect,  combined  with  external  circumstances 
of  a  more  or  less  unfavourable  character,  have  the 
effect  of  making  these  juveniles  what  they  are. 

One  more  lesson  as  to  the  mental  condition  of 
juvenile  offenders  may  yet  be  learnt  by  examining 
the  mental  condition  of  the  parents.  A  fairly  good 
test  of  the  mental  capacity  of  parents  is  to  be  found 
in  the  amount  of  success  which  attends  their  efforts 
to  control  their  offspring.  If  parents  lose  control 
so  completely  over  their  children  before  they  reach 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  in  most  cases  before  the  age 
of  fourteen,  that  these  children  become  criminal 
offenders,  this  circumstance  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
such  parents,  possess  very  little  force  of  will  and 
character.  As  a  rule  parents  have  an  overwhelming 
hold  upon  the  minds  and  even  on  the  conduct  of  the 
1  young.  But  this  is  a  rule  which  does  not  apply  as 
^  far  as  the  parents  of  a  large  proportion  of  delinquent 
children  are  concerned.  Many  of  these  children  are 
living  under  the  parental  roof,  and  ostensibly  under 
parental  control,  at  the  morn'ent  of  their  fall.  But  the 
exercise  of  parental  authority  is  so  ineffectual  that 
these  children  nevei^theless  become  thieves  or  vaga- 
bonds. As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  year  1891,  44 
per  cent  of  the  juveniles  committed  to  reformatories 
were  living  at  home,  and  had  both  parents  alive.  No 
doubt  cases  arise  from  time  to  time  when  the  most 
strong-minded  and  solicitousof  ptirents  find  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  keep  a  wayward  child  upon  the 
normal    path,   and    allowances    must   necessarily   be 


MENTAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     1 1 1 

made  for  the  existence  of  this  fact.  But  the  number 
of  incorrigible  children  among  the  reformatory  school 
population  is  extremely  small,  and,  according  to  the 
returns,  does  not  amount  to  more  than  between  seven 
and  eight  per  thousand.  The  failure  of  the  parents 
to  control  these  juveniles  must  not  therefore  be  set 
down  in  the  vast  mass  of  instances  to  any  innate 
unconquerable  incorrigibility  on  the  part  of  the 
offender  ;  the  blame  must  be  attributed  to  the  inertia, 
to  the  want  of  will  and  want  of  character  of  the 
parents.  The  doctrine  of  heredity  teaches  us  to 
believe  this  mental  inertia,  this  defect  of  will  and 
character,  is  transmissible,  and  is  frequently  trans- 
mitted from  the  parents  to  the  child.  Incapacity  to 
control  the  child  is  exhibited,  as  we  have  just  stated, 
among  44  per  cent  of  the  parents  of  juveniles  in 
reformatories,  and  this  mental  condition  is  repro- 
duced among  these  juveniles  in  the  shape  of  in- 
capacity to  control  J;hemselves.  In  other  words,  the 
weakness  of  will  in  the  parent  reappears  in  the  child 
in  the  form  of  an  absence  of  power  to  resist  criminal 
instincts  and  impulses.^' 

Before  proceeding  any  further  in  this  inquiry  it 
will  be  well  to  summarise  what  has  already  been  set 
forth.  It  was  shown  in  the  first  place  that,  though 
physical  condition  was  not  an  absolutely  accurate 
test  of  mental  condition,  it  was  nevertheless  a  fairly 
good  all-round  criterion  to  go  by.  Estimating  the 
mental  competence  of  juvenile  offenders  by  this 
criterion,  it  was  seen  that  about  a  third  of  the 
juvenile  criminal  population  would  be  below  the 
average   in    general  mental  power.       In    the   second 


112  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

place,  estimating  the  mental  competence  of  criminal 
children  by  the  mental  status  of  the  parents,  it  was 
shown  that  almost  all  these  children  were  descended 
from   parents  who   were  either  mentally  or   morally 
unqualified    to    perform    the    elementary    duties    of 
parenthood.     The  precise  degree  in  which  this  con- 
dition of  mental  and  moral    incompetence  descends 
from  parent  to  child   depends  on  the  answer  which 
is    finally  given  to  certain  fundamental  problems  in 
biology    which    are   still    a    subject    of  debate.       It 
depends,   for  instance,  on   how  far  the  mental   cha- 
racteristics of  the  child  are  the  result  of  immediate 
inheritance    from   the  parents  as  distinguished  from 
more  remote  relations.     It  depends  also  on  whether 
acquired  qualities  or  defects  in  the  parent  are  trans- 
missible as   well  as  congenital  qualities  and  defects. 
Bat   though  we  do  not   know   the  exact    degree    in 
which    human    characteristics    are    transmitted,    we 
know  at   least  that  this  transmission  does  take  place 
in  a  more  or  less  manifest  form.     We  know  that  like 
has  a  tendency  to  beget  like,  and  that,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,   the  children   of  morally    and    mentally    in- 
competent parents  are  often  mentally    and   morally 
incompetent  as  well.     In  so  far,  then,  as  a  knowledge 
of  the  mental  organisation  of  juvenile  offenders  can 
be  gathered  from  an  application  to  their  case  of  the 
laws    of  heredity    and    psycho-physics    our   general 
conclusion    is    that  a  high   percentage    of  them  are 
below  an  efficient  standard  in  general  mental  power. 
/    ''  What  the  mental  condition  of  a  person  will  be  is, 
(    as  we  have  seen,  partly  determined,  by  the  physical 
^tjasis  on   which  all  mental  life  reposes  ;  it  is  partly 


MENTAL    CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     1  1 3 

determined  by  the  mental  characteristics  which  he 
inherits  ;  and  it  is  partly  determined  by  the  mental 
surroundings  amidst  which  he  lives  and  acts.  The 
effect  of  bodily  inferiority  and  mental  inheritance  on 
the  mental  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  has  just 
been  dealt  with  ;  it  now  remains  for  us  to  inquire 
into  the  effect  upon  them  of  mental  surroundings.  It 
is  to  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  are  born 
into  the  world  with  a  fundamental  mental  disposition 
which  constitutes  the  basis  of  our  future  character. 
The  essential  traits  of  which  the  basis  of  our  cha- 
racter is  composed  can  never  be  eradicated  ;  these 
traits  are  born  with  us  and  abide  with  us  to  the  last. 
Nevertheless,  the  inalienable  elements  in  our  mental 
life  are  always  profoundly  modified  by  the  mental 
surroundings  in  which  they  are  exercised.  In  this 
respect,  as  in  so  many  other  respects,  there  is  a 
considerable  similarity  between  mental  and  bodily 
organisation.  Nature  has  bestowed  upon  us  from 
birth  certain  characteristics  of  figure  and  feature 
which  we  always  retain,  no  matter  what  circum- 
stances we  are  placed  in.  At  the  same  time  these 
ineradicable  physical  characteristics  are  powerfully 
affected  by  the  action  of  our  surroundings.  When 
the  physical  organisation  has  to  develop  into  matu- 
rity under  unhealthy  conditions,  such-  as  bad  air, 
impure  water,  inadequate  food  and  clothing,  it  will 
be  a  degenerate  product,  even  if  free  from  inferiority 
to  start  with.  And  when  the  mental  organisation 
has  to  develop  under  unhealthy  mental  conditions, 
we  have  an  inferior  mental  product. 

It  follows  from  what  has  just  been  stated  that  we 


i  -- 


114  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

must  look  at  the  surroundings  in  which  the  mind  of 
the  juvenile  offender  is  developed,  in  order  to  arrive 
at  a  complete  estimate  of  his  mental  organisation. 
The  earliest,  the  most  pervasive  mental  surroundings 

/'  of  a  child  consist  of  the  modes  of  thought  and 
feeling  of  the  family  circle  in  which  it  lives.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  the  mental  characteristics  of  the 
parents  when  not  inherited  by  the  children  are 
acquired  by  them.  The  characteristics  of  the  parents 
constitute  a  large  part  of  the  mental  food  of  the 
child,  and  are  incorporated  into  its  mental  life  in  as 
organic  a  fashion  as  physical  nourishment  is  incor- 
porated into  our  physical  life.  The  mental  cha- 
racteristics of  the  parents  of  most  juvenile  offenders 
have  already  been  described  as  consisting  of  mental 
incompetence  or  moral  obliquity.  It  is  therefore 
in  an  atmosphere  of  mental  incompetence  or  moral 
obliquity,  and  usually  in  a  combination  of  both,  that 
the  mind  of  the  juvenile  offender  receives  its  earliest 
impressions  of  the  external  world.  It  is  in  this 
atmosphere  that  the  process  of  interaction  between 
the  mind  and  its  surroundings,  which  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  call  mental  development,  takes  place. 
What  form  mental  development  will  ultimately 
assume  is  usually  dependent  on  the  nature  of  the 
surroundings  in  which  the  mind  is  exercised.  If  its 
exercise  consists  largely  of  contact  and  communion 
with  the  incompetent  and  vicious  it  will  tend  to 
absorb  and  reproduce  the  defects  it  lives  amongst. 

/Xases,  of  course,  occur  in  which  a  native  bent  of 
mind  rises  superior  to  the  action  of  surrounding 
agencies.     But  these  cases  are   the  exception  ;  as  a 


MEXTAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     I  I  5 

rule  the  mental  organism  is  moulded  by  the  mental 
attitude  and  mental  habits  of  its  environment,  and 
incorporates  them  into  itself.  Accordingly,  if  we  are 
to  judge  the  mental  condition  of  the  juvenile 
offender  by  the  mental  environment  in  which  he 
passes  the  most  critical  period  of  life,  as  far  as  the 
formation  of  character  is  concerned,  we  are  led 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  mental  condition  must 
be  abnormal. 

In  what  do  the  mental  anomalies  of  juvenile 
offenders  consist?  In  some  cases  mental  anomaly 
shows  itself  in  defects  of  intellect,  in  other  cases  in 
defects  of  feeling,  and  in  other  cases  in  defects  of 
volition.  Very  often  the  juvenile  offender  is  defec- 
tive in  each  of  these  mental  functions  ;  we  have  a 
feebly  developed  intellect  combined  with  bluntness  of 
feeling  and  instability  of  will.  Among  offenders  who 
are  intellectually  abnormal,  the  powers  of  perception 
and  retention  are  of  an  inferior  order,  and  the 
juvenile  becomes  an  offender  against  the  law  as 
much  from  siuoidity  as  design.  Among  offenders 
who  are  alert  enough  mentally,  and  even  above  the 
average  in  this  respect,  there  is  often  an  absence  of 
feeling  which  is  truly  remarkable.  In  some  instances 
children  of  this  description  have  never  enjoyed  the 
humanising  influence  of  parental  affection  ;  their 
feelings,  even  when  normal  to  begin  with,  have 
become  withered  and  hardened  by  brutality  and 
neglect.  Such  children  are  well  aware  of  the  nature 
of  a  criminal  conduct,  but  it  is  not  in  any  way 
repugnant  to  them  on  that  account.  It  is  from  their 
ranks   that    the   most    dangerous   class   of  habitual 


Il6  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

criminals  are  drawn.  On  the  other  hand,  children  of 
feeble  wills  are  often  gifted  with  genuine  sensibilities, 
and  when  they  fall  it  is  because  they  are  led  away 
by  others.  V^hen  several  juveniles  are  involved  in 
the  same  offence,  some  children  of  the  class  we  have 
just  mentioned  are  sure  to  be  found  amongst  them. 
These  children  are  generally  below  the  average  in 
intellect  as  well  as  in  will,  and  are  good  or  bad 
according  to  the  circumstances  in  which  they  happen 

\  to  be  placed. 

In  the  course  of  this  inquiry  into  the  mental 
condition  of  juvenile  offenders  we  have  been  im- 
plicitly led  into  an  examination  of  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  originated.  An  explicit  statement  on 
the  subject  will  now  be  opportune.  The  defective 
mental  equipment  of  juvenile  offenders  as  a  class 
originates    either    in    a    defective    physical    basis    of 

I  mental  life  or  in  inherited  mental  incompetence,  or 
in  the  evil  effects  of  abnormal  mental  surroundinsfs. 
■In  every  case  one  or  other  of  these  three  sets  of 
causes  is  at  work,  and  very  frequently  all  of  them 
are  at  work.  In  order  to  reduce  the  propor- 
tions of  juvenile  crime,  these  causes  must  first 
be  minimised  ;  owing  to  the  constitution  of 
human  nature  it  is  vain  to  hope  for  their  extinc- 
tion either  in  the  immediate  or  remote  future. 
Nevertheless,  we  may  venture  to  believe  that  the 
various  factors  which  tend  to  produce  a  criminal  life 
among  the  young  are  capable  of  being  confined 
within  much  narrower  limits  than  exist  at  present.  ! 
The  material  and  moral  conditions  of  existence  from 
which  the  young  criminal  springs,  and  by  which  he 


MENTAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.     1 1 J 

is  moulded,  are  susceptible  of  improvement  in  a 
multitude  of  directions,  and  offer  an  inviting  field  for 
the  exercise  of  enlightened  and  discriminate  social 
effort.  In  proportion  as  these  material  and  moral 
conditions  are  improved  juvenile  crime  will  diminish, 
and  so  long  as  they  remain  stationary  juvenile  crime 
will  do  the  same.  In  the  past  society  has  spent  too 
much  time  and  money  in  sharpening  and  perfecting 
merely  repressive  agencies  in  the  shape  of  prisons 
and  police,  and  far  too  little  time  and  money  in 
investigating  the  conditions  which  produce  the 
criminal  and  reducing  them  to  a  minimum.  It  is 
not  our  intention  to  assert  that  repressive  agencies 
are  useless,  and  that  they  do  not  have  their  place 
in  the  organisation  of  civilised  life.  But  we  cannot 
expect  these  agencies  to  produce  results  for  which 
they  are  not  adapted  ;  they  cannot  place  a  healthy 
mind  in  a  healthy  body,  or  create  a  more  highly 
moralised  atmosphere  for  the  young.  Juvenile  crime 
arises  from  the  absence  of  these  two  requisites  ; 
prisons  and  police  do  not  supply  them,  and  never 
can.  In  all  matters  of  hygiene  we  act  upon  the 
principle  that  the  only  way  to  get  rid  of  epidemics 
is  to  remove  the  conditions  which  produce  them. 
If  a  disease  is  arising  from  impurities  in  the  water 
supply,  or  from  defects  of  drainage,  the  only  way  to 
get  rid  of  it  is  to  remove  these  insanitary  conditions. 
To  build  hospitals  will  relieve  the  sufferers,  but 
cannot  touch  the  roots  of  the  disease.  Exactly  the 
same  principle  must  be  acted  upon  in  order  to 
diminish  the  proportions  of  crime.  All  methods  of 
repression    occupy   a   position   somewhat  analogous 


Il8  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

to  hospitals.  They  leave  the  evil  untouched  at  its 
roots,  and  therefore  do  comparatively  little  to 
minimise  it.  A  thorough  system  ^  social  hygiene 
endeavours  to  remove  the  conditions  which  produce 
the  evil,  and  in  so  far  as  it  is  successful  in  removing 
these  conditions  the  evil  itself  is  removed. 


Note. — The  mental  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  is  here  dealt 
with  mainly  from  a  statistical  point  of  view.  For  fuller  details  the 
reader  may  consult  "Die  Charakterfehler  des  Kindes,"  von  Dr.  F. 
Scholz.  Leipzig:  E.  H.  Mayer,  1891  ;  "  Padagog'sche  Pathologic," 
von  L.  Striimpell.  Leipzig,  1892;  "The  Neuroses  of  Develop- 
ment," by  Dr.  Clouston  ;  "  Lectures  on  Mental  Faculty,"  by  Dr. 
Warner  ;  "Comptes-rendus  du  IV.  Congres  international  d'Anthro- 
pologie  criminelle."  Geneve,  1896 ;  "  Minorenni  Delinquenti  Saggio 
di  Psicologia  Criminale,"  di  Cav,  L.  Ferriani.     Milano,  1895. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PARENTAL   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE 
OFFENDERS. 

Heredity  and  surroundings — Influence  of  imitation — Influence  of 
the  family — Illegitimacy — Illegitimates  in  industrial  school  popu- 
lation— Mortality  among  illegitimate  children — Illegitimates  in 
reformatory  schools — Social  effect  of  illegitimacy — Relations 
between  illegitimacy  and  crime — Illegitimacy  is  lowest  where 
crime  is  highest — Relation  between  density  of  population  and 
illegitimacy — Relation  between  density  of  population  and  crime 
— Relation  between  illegitimacy  and  crime — Relation  between 
pauperism  and  illegitimacy — Causes  of  this  relation — Relation 
between  orphanhood  and  juvenile  crime — Juvenile  offenders 
without  father  and  mother — Small  percentage  of  totally  orphaned 
children  in  industrial  schools — Juvenile  offenders  who  have  lost 
their  fathers — The  mothers  of  fatherless  children — Motherless 
children  —  Motherless  children  in  industrial  schools  —  More 
motherless  than  fatherless  children  in  industrial  schools — Causes 
of  this  disparity — Deserted  children  among  juvenile  offenders 
— Desertion  by  the  father  :  by  the  mother — The  treatment  of 
deserted  children — Children  of  criminal  parentage — Parental 
condition  of  reformatory  school  children  and  juvenile  prisoners 
— Effect  of  removing  adverse  parental  conditions  in  reducing 
juvenile  crime — Juvenile  offenders  with  both  parents  alive — 
Character  of  the  parents. 

In  the  two  preceding  chapters  I  have  endeavoured 
to  exhibit  son:ie  of  the  results  arising  out  of  an 
examination  of  the  physical  and  mental  condition  of 
.juvenile  offenders,   and  attention  has  been  directed 


I20  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

to  the  effect  of  these  two  conditions  when  they  are 
of  an    abnormal    character    on    the    production    of 
abnormal  forms  of  conduct.     In  the  course  of  such 
an    inquiry    it   was    impossible    to    avoid    incidental 
reference   to    the    influence    of  social    conditions    on 
physical    and    mental    characteristics.      In    these   in- 
cidental  references    it   was    shown    that   social    con- 
ditions play  a  most  conspicuous  part  in  shaping  the 
hereditary  and  congenital  tendencies  of  the  individual. 
It   accordingly   devolves    upon   us    to    discuss    these 
social    conditions    in    a    more   direct    and    detailed 
manner,    and   to   trace   their  probable  effect  on    the 
lives   of  the  juvenile   delinquent   population.      The 
opinion   was   held  by   John  Stuart  Mill,  and  before 
him   by   some  thinkers  of  equal  eminence,  that  the 
differences  which  exist  between  man  and   man  are 
almost    entirely   to    be    attributed    to    differences    of 
upbringing  and    social    surroundings.     On  this    sup- 
position, if  two  persons  are  brought  up  in  exactly 
the  same  surroundings,  they  will  display  the  same 
mental  and  moral  qualities  or  defects,  and  the  only 
reason  we  do  not  find  this  to  be  the  case  in  actual 
life  is  that  no  two  persons,  even  in  the  same  family, 
are   subjected   to   precisely   the   same   set    of  social 
conditions.     Since  the  death  of  Mill   a  considerable 
amount   of  light   has   been  shed    upon  the  facts  of 
heredity,  and    the  claims  which  he  urges  on  behalf 
of  the   omnipotence    of    social    surroundings    upon 
human  life  and  character  are  now  seen  to  be  exces- 
sive. 

The   results   of  all   recent   research    point   to  the 
conclusion    that   human   beings   are   born   into    the 


PAREXTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  2  I 

world  with  a  distinct  bent  of  temperament  and 
character  which  will  always  manifest  itself  in  some 
form,  no  matter  what  process  of  training  the  in- 
dividual is  called  upon  to  undergo.  But  the  ultimate 
shape  which  inherited  characteristics  will  assume  is 
largely  dependent  on  the  sort  of  social  conditions 
in  which  human  development  takes  place.  If  human 
development  takes  place  under  wholesome  social  con- 
ditions, inborn  characteristics  of  an  anti-social  nature 
may  in  many  cases  be  rendered  comparatively  innocu- 
ous or  even  be  completely  overcome  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  development  takes  place  under  un- 
wholesome social  conditions  anti-social  tendencies  are 
immensely  aggravated,  and  are  frequently  generated 
where  they  do  not  originally  exist. 

As  far  as  regards  childhood  and  early  youth  the 
most  important  set  of  social  surroundings  lie  within 
the  domestic  circle.  The  family  is  the  primary 
social  unit,  and  in  the  early  years  of  childhood  it  is 
the  only  external  agency  which  exercises  a  decisive 
influence  on  life  and  conduct.  The  depth  and  in- 
tensity of  family  influence  it  is  impossible  to  measure, 
inasmuch  as  there  is  no  accurate  means  of  ascer- 
taining where  heredity  ends  and  imitation  begins. 
But  among  social  circumstances  which  have  a  hand 
in  determining  the  future  of  the  individual  it  is 
enough  for  our  present  purpose  to  recognise  that  the 
family  is  the  chief  On  this  account  our  inquiry  into 
the  social  circumstances  of  youthful  offenders  will 
most  naturally  begin  with  an  examination  of  their 
parental  condition. 

Perhaps    the  most  important  fact  relating  to  the 


122  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

parental  condition  of  a  child  is  the  answer  to  the 
question  whether  it  was  born  in  or  out  of  wedlock. 
Let  us  see,  then,  what  the  returns  relating  to  juvenile 
offenders  tell  us  upon  this  point.  We  shall  deal,  in 
the  first  place,  with  the  percentage  of  illegitimate 
children  in  the  industrial  school  population  of 
England  and  Wales.  According  to  the  returns  for 
a  period  of  five  years  (1887-91)  the  number  of 
illeo-itimate  children  of  both  sexes  committed  to 
Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  industrial  schools 
was  at  the  rate  of  50  per  thousand,  or  5  per  cent. 
In  order  to  arrive  at  the  precise  import  of  these 
figures  it  is  necessary  to  compare  them  with  the  rate 
of  illegitimacy  among  the  general  population.  If  it 
is  found,  after  taking  all  modifying  circumstances 
into  consideration,  that  illegitimates  form  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  industrial  school  population  than 
of  the  general  population,  we  are  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  illegitimacy  has  a  tendency  to  produce 
a  higher  ratio  of  delinquency  than  the  condition  of 
children  born  in  lawful  wedlock.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  the  fact  that  the  numbers  of  legitimate 
and  illegitimate  children  in  industrial  schools  corre- 
spond as  nearly  as  possible  with  their  numbers  in 
the  general  community,  it  follows  that  illegitimacy, 
whatever  may  be  its  evils  in  other  respects,  is  not 
an  important  factor  in  the  production  of  juvenile 
offenders.  In  the  light  of  these  preliminary  observa- 
tions let  us  now  ascertain  what  the  Registrar- 
General  has  to  tell  us  respecting  the  rate  of  ille- 
gitimacy in  the  general  population.  According  to  the 
Registrar-General's    returns  the   yearly  average  rate 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  23 

of  illegitimate  births  among  the  English  population 
between  the  years  1831-91  amounted  to  fifty-seven 
illegitimate  births  to  every  thousand  legitimate  births. 
In  recent  years,  however,  the  illegitimate  birth  rate 
has  been  decreasing,  and  if  a  period  is  taken  roughly 
corresponding  with  the  time  when  most  of  the 
inmates  in  industrial  schools  during  the  years  1887-91 
were  born,  that  is  so  say,  the  quinquennium  1881-85, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  rate  of  illegitimacy  in 
England  amounted  to  forty-eight  illegitimate  to 
one  thousand  legitimate  births.  It  has  already  been 
pointed  out  that  the  illegitimate  rate  in  industrial 
schools  is  50  per  thousand  ;  therefore  the  proportion 
of  illegitimates  in  industrial  schools  is  slightly  higher 
than  the  proportion  of  illegitimate  births. 

If  an  inference  were  drawn  from  these  facts  as 
they  stand  it  would  be  to  the  effect  that  the  children 
of  illegitimate  unions  do  not  contribute  a  much  larger 
ratio  to  the  industrial  school  population  than  is 
contributed  by  the  children  of  legitimate  unions, 
and  that  illegitimacy  is  not  a  predominant  condition 
in  the  production  of  juvenile  offenders  of  the  youngest 
class.  But  before  drawing  any  inference  of  this 
nature  one  important  consideration  must  be  taken 
into  account,  and  that  is  the  high  rate  of  mortality 
among  illegitimate  as  compared  with  legitimate 
children,  I  am  not  aware  ot  the  existence  of 
statistics  ot  quite  recent  date  bearing  upon  the  rate 
of  mortality  among  illegitimate  children  in  England. 
The  most  recent  figures  dealing  with  this  matter 
were  collected  by  the  Registrar-General  in  1875.  At 
that  time  a  considerable  amount  of  valuable  informa- 


124  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

tion  was  gathered  from  certain  specified  districts,  in 
order  to  exhibit  the  ratio  of  mortahty  among  ille- 
gitimate children  as  compared  with  legitimate.  It 
will  be  seen  that  this  information  is  nearly  twenty 
years  old,  and  that  it  does  not  embrace  the  whole 
country.  In  these  circumstances  fresh  statistics  of 
a  more  comprehensive  character  and  of  more  recent 
origin  would  be  more  satisfactory,  but  until  these 
figures  are  forthcoming  we  must  be  content  to  assume 
that  the  death  rate  among  illegitimate  infants,  as 
compared  with  legitimate,  is  substantially  the  same 
at  the  present  time  as  it  was  in  1875.  According  to 
the  Registrar-General's  tables  the  death  rate  among 
illegitimate  infants  is  in  some  places  four  times  as 
high  as  the  death  rate  among  the  legitimates,  and 
taking  the  mean  of  the  twenty-four  districts  selected 
for  purposes  of  comparison,  the  illegitimate  death 
rate  is  more  than  twice  as  high  as  the  legitimate 
death  rate. 

On  the  assumption  that  these  figures  still  repre- 
sent the  facts  with  approximate  accuracy,  and  there 
is  every  reason  to  suppose  they  do,  it  is  very 
unlikely  that  the  number  of  illegitimate  children  alive 
in  England  over  five  years  of  age  amounts  at  the 
outside  to  more  than  40  per  thousand  of  the  juvenile 
population  over  five.  But  in  industrial  schools  we 
see  that  this  class  of  children  number  50  per  thousand 
of  the  inmates,  that  is  to  say,  illegitimates  form 
rather  more  than  their  due  proportion  of  the  popula- 
tion of  these  institutions. 

Before  commenting  upon  this  fact  let  us  widen 
the  basis  of  our   inquiry  into   the   relation   between 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  25 

illegitimacy  and  juvenile  offences.  Juvenile  offenders, 
as  we  already  know,  besides  being  committed  to 
industrial  schools,  are  often  sent  to  other  institutions, 
such  as  private  homes,  prisons,  and  reformatories. 
Respecting  the  rate  of  illegitimates  in  voluntary 
homes  and  prisons  we  are  in  complete  ignorance, 
inasmuch  as  no  record  is  kept  of  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  number  and  proportion  of  illegitimates  in 
reformatory  schools  are  tabulated  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  industrial  schools.  What,  then,  is  the  ratio  of 
illegitimates  as  compared  with  legitimates  in  refor- 
matories. As  far  as  can  be  ascertained  the  number 
of  offenders  of  illegitimate  birth  committed  to 
English  reformatory  schools  in  the  quinquennium 
1887-91  amounted  to  20  per  thousand.  This  ratio 
is  considerably  smaller  than  the  ratio  committed  to 
industrial  schools.  It  is  also  very  much  smaller  than 
the  rate  of  illegitimacy  in  the  general  population, 
which  amounted  to  48  per  thousand.  Of  course 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  fact  that  the  death 
rate  of  illegitimates  is  much  higher  than  the  death 
rate  among  children  born  in  wedlock.  But  even 
after  ample  allowance  has  been  made  for  the  effect 
of  this  circumstance  in  diminishing  the  percentage 
of  illegitimate  children  of  reformatory  school  age, 
we  have  still  to  admit  that  illegitimate  children  are 
not  so  likely  to  be  committed  to  reformatories  as 
legitimate.  And  in  so  far  as  committal  to  a  refor- 
matory is  to  be  accepted  as  a  test  of  criminal 
tendencies,  illegitimates  are  not  more  criminally  dis- 
posed than  children  of  lawful  unions.  Even  if  the 
illegitimate  children  in  industrial  and  reformatory 
10 


126  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.   . 

schools  are  classed  together,  it  will  be  found  that  in 
proportion  to  their  number  in  the  general  population 
illegitimate  children  do  not  contribute  an  appreciably 
larger  number  of  young  offenders  to  these  establish- 
ments than  is  contributed  by  the  remaining  part  of 
the  juvenile  population. 

These  conclusions  respecting  the  effect  of  illegiti- 
macy upon  conduct  are  so  distinctly  opposed  to 
prevalent  opinion,  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  accept 
them  without  more  searching  examination.  Current 
opinion  as  to  the  evils  of  illegitimacy  is  based  upon 
the  unquestionable  fact  that  the  casual  union  of  the 
sexes  is  adverse  to  the  moral  progress  of  the  race. 
In  order  to  find  anything  analogous  to  these  casual 
unions  among  the  progressive  races  we  must  go  back 
to  the  customs  of  the  matriarchal  age.  At  that  stage 
of  human  development  marriage  did  not  exist.  The 
relationships  between  the  sexes  were  of  a  transitory 
character.  Parentage  was  reckoned  through  the  mother 
alone,  and,  as  among  many  of  the  lower  animals, 
the  nurture  and  protection  of  the  offspring  practically 
depended  upon  the  mother.  It  is  probable,  in  fact, 
that  illegitimacy  is  either  a  surviving  relic  of  the  time 
when  the  mother  was  the  sole  head  and  guardian  of 
the  family,  or  that  it  is  something  in  the  nature  of 
a  reversion  to  the  primitive  sex  customs  of  the 
matriarchal  period.  In  any  case,  whether  illegitimacy 
is  a  surviv'al  of  an  old  and  primitive  form  of  social 
life  or  a  sort  of  reversion  towards  it,  its  existence  is 
a  menace  to  the  more  evolved  type  of  family  prevail- 
ing in  the  West.  The  leading  characteristics  of  this 
type  consist  of  a  union  freely  entered  upon  by  the 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS,     I  2/ 

man  and  the  woman  ;  of  cohesion  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  ;  of  the  observance  of  common 
rights  and  duties  ;  of  a  tendency  towards  complete 
equality  between  husband  and  wife ;  and  finally  of 
submission  on  the  part  of  the  family  group  to  the 
control  of  the  state.  Incidental  unions  and  their 
fruits  present  hardly  any  of  the  characteristics  just 
described,  and  are  accordingly  visited  with  social  and 
legal  disabilities  which  injuriously  affect  the  mother 
and  the  child.  In  such  circumstances  it  is  very 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  illegitimate  child  will  be 
likely  to  exhibit  the  disadvantages  connected  with 
its  birth  in  the  shape  of  a  greater  proneness  to 
delinquency.  It  is  therefore  highly  important  to 
know  why  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case. 

The  reason  illegitimates,  in  spite  of  their  dis- 
advantages of  birth,  and  in  many  cases  of  breeding, 
constitute  such  a  small  percentage  of  the  juvenile 
criminal  population  can  only  be  explained  by  a 
reference  to  the  general  conditions  which  tend  to 
produce  both  illegitimacy  and  crime.  In  almost 
every  county  in  England  and  Wales  where  the  popu- 
lation is  thinly  distributed  the  percentage  of  criminal 
offences  is  below  the  average,  or  on  the  borders  of 
the  average.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  in  almost 
every  county  in  England  and  Wales  where  the 
population  is  thickly  studded  together  the  rate  of 
criminal  offences  tends  to  exceed  the  average.  In 
other  words,  the  amount  of  crime  is  dependent  to  an 
enormous  extent  on  the  number  of  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  Where  the  number  of  persons  to  the 
square  mile  is  small  the  rate  of  crime  is  generally  low  ; 


128  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

and  where  the  number  of  persons  to  the  square  mile 
is  large  the  rate  of  crime  is  generally  high.  That  is 
the  sociological  law  which  most  largely  affects  and 
regulates  the  proportions  of  crime. 

Now  the  very  same  law  which  tends  to  augment 
the  proportions  of  crime  tends  to  diminish  the  pro- 
portions of  illegitimacy.  That  is  to  say,  illegitimacy 
tends  towards  a  minimum  in  those  parts  of  England 
where  the  population  is  most  dense,  and  towards  a 
maximum  in  those  districts  where  the  population  is 
most  sparse.  Crime,  on  the  other  hand,  as  has  just 
been  noted,  inclines  to  its  maximum  in  densely 
populated  centres  and  to  its  minimum  in  thinly 
peopled  districts.  It  follows  from  the  operation  of 
this  law  that  the  largest  percentage  of  illegitimate 
children  come  into  the  world  in  those  parts  -of 
England  where  there  is  the  smallest  amount  of  crime, 
and  the  smallest  percentage  of  illegitimate  children 
come  into  the  world  in  those  centres  where  there  is 
the  largest  amount  of  crime.  Illegitimate  children, 
as  a  whole,  are  accordingly  placed  in  exceptionally 
favourable  conditions  in  so  far  as  regards  criminal 
surroundings,  and  it  is  the  presence  of  these  excep- 
tionally favourable  conditions  which  accounts  for  the 
low  rate  of  illegitimates  in  reformatory  schools  and 
the  comparatively  low  rate  in  industrial  schools. 

In  most  counties  where  the  favourable  conditions 
just  alluded  to  are  not  present  we  at  once  see  the  evil 
effects  of  illegitimacy  on  the  conduct  of  the  juvenile 
population.  The  counties  to  which  I  refer  are  counties 
which  contain  a  dense  population  with  a  considerable 
amount  of  illegitimacy.     In   the  county  of  Chester, 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.     1 29 

for  instance,  the  density  of  population  is  above  the 
average,  the  rate  of  illegitimacy  is  also  rather  above 
the  average,  and  the  result  is  that  illegitimates  form 
a  more  than  ordinary  percentage  of  the  children 
committed  to  industrial  schools.  In  the  year  1890 
the  rate  of  illegitimacy  in  Cheshire  was  43  per  thou- 
sand, but  the  rate  of  illegitimates  committed  to  indus- 
trial schools  was  as  high  as  55  per  thousand.  In 
Lancashire  we  are  presented  with  another  example 
of  the  same  phenomenon.  In  1891  the  rate  of 
illegitimacy  in  Lancashire  was  49  per  thousand,  and 
the  ratio  of  illegitimates  committed  to  industrial 
schools  was  62  per  thousand.  In  both  these  impor- 
tant industrial  centres  the  percentage  of  illegitimates 
committed  to  industrial  schools  is  considerably  above 
the  percentage  for  the  whole  of  England.  This  is  a 
state  of  things  which  points  to  the  conclusion  that 
illegitimate  chi4dren  are  more  criminally  disposed  than 
legitimate,  when  they  are  born  and  nurtured  amidst  a 
dense  population,  that  is  to  say,  among  a  population 
where  criminals  and  the  temptations  to  crime  are 
numerous.  This  amounts  to  saying  that,  conditions 
being  equal,  illegitimates  are  more  likely  to  become 
offenders  than  legitimates.  But  inasmuch  as  this 
equality  of  conditions  does  not  exist,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  percentage  of  illegitimate  births  is 
highest  in  districts  where  the  temptations  to  offend 
are  lowest,  we  have  the  general  result  that,  taking 
England  as  a  whole,  illegitimates  do  not  contribute 
much,  if  any,  more  than  their  due  proportion  of 
offenders  to  the  juvenile  delinquent  population. 
Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  relations  between 


130  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS, 

illegitimacy  and  crime  it  will  be  of  interest  to  consider 
why  it  is   that   the  same   conditions   which  tend  to 
diminish  the  average  of  illegitimacy  should  tend  to 
augment  the  rate  of  crime,  or,  to  put  the  same  proposi- 
tion the  other  way  round,  why  the  rate  of  crime  should 
tend  to  be  low  where  the  rate  of  illegitimacy  tends  to 
be  high.     The  paramount  condition  which  affects  the 
rate  of  illegitimacy  and  the  rate  of  crime,  but  affects 
it    in    opposite    directions,  is,   as    has   been    already 
pointed  out,  the  rate  of  population  to  the  square  mile. 
This   being   the   case,   the   final   form    which    our 
inquiry  assumes  is  formulated  in  the  question.  Why 
does  a  rate  of  population  which  produces  a  high  rate 
of  illegitimacy  produce  a  low  rate  of  crime  ? "  An 
answer  to  this   question  will  be  found   in  the  effect 
which    density    of    population    has    on    the    social 
conditions   of  existence.     It  is  a  fact  which    hardly 
requires  to  be  mentioned  that  the  conditions  of  life 
in    thinly    peopled    districts    differ    in    a   variety   of 
respects  from  the  conditions  of  life  in  large  centres 
of  population.     The    state    of  perpetual   intercourse 
and  contact  which  prevails  in  a  crowded  population, 
and  which  gives  rise  to  such  a  large  proportion  of 
offences   against   the    person,   does   not   exist    in    a 
community    where    the    inhabitants    are    distributed 
over  a  large  area.     In  such  a  community  the  wages 
of  the    population    are  small  as  a  rule,  the  public- 
houses   are   in  most  cases  not  so  accessible,  and  the 
result  is  that  there  is  a  comparatively  low  percentage 
of  drunkenness   and  of  the    kind  of  offences  which 
spring  from  drink.     At  the  same  time  the  multitude 
of  shops,  warehouses,  and  fine  houses  which  are  to  be 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      1 3 1 

found  in  towns,  and  which  do  so  much  to  excite 
cupidity,  are  almost  absent  from  the  country,  and 
there  are  accordingly  fewer  offences  against  property. 
The  superiority  of  the  country  with  regard  to  health, 
and  the  more  natural  conditions  under  which  the 
majority  of  the  people  live,  keep  down  the  ratio  of 
offences  which  spring  from  mental  and  physical 
degeneracy.  Other  causes  might  also  be  mentioned 
which  tend  to  minimise  the  ratio  of  crime  in  sparsely 
peopled  areas,  but  sufficient  evidence  has  already 
been  brought  forward  to  show  that  the  difference 
in  the  social  conditions  of  existence  in  thinly  peopled 
as  compared  with  densely  peopled  districts  is  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  low  rate  of  crime  in  the  country  as 
compared  with  the  towns. 

The  high  rate  of  illegitimacy  in  the  country  is  also 
explicable  by  a  reference  to  the  social  conditions  of  the 
rural  population.  The  sparseness  of  population  which 
tends  to  diminish  criminal  offences  tends  at  the  same 
time  to  afford  facilities  for  the  illegitimate  union  of 
the  sexes  which  are  not  afforded  to  the  same  extent 
in  towns..  This  is  undoubtedly  one  cause  of  the  high 
rate  of  illegitimacy  in  rural  districts  as  a  whole. 
Another  cause  is  the  absence  of  a  fallen  class  in  the 
country  districts.  And  yet  another  and  equally  im- 
portant cause  is  the  pauperised  condition  of  a  large 
mass  of  the  country  population.  A  high  rate  of 
pauperism  and  a  high  rate  of  illegitimacy  almost 
invariably  go  hand  in  hand,  in  so  far  as  England 
and  Wales  is  concerned.  During  the  period  between 
1849  and  1 89 1  it  will  be  observed  that  the  rate  of 
illegitimate  births  to  the  total  number  of  births  has, 


132  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

on  the  whole,  slowly  but  steadily  declined.  The  ratio 
of  paupers  to  the  population  during  the  same  period 
has  also  slowly  but  steadily  decreased.  A  further  proof 
of  the  concomitance  of  pauperism  and  illegitimacy  is 
exhibited  in  the  relative  prevalence  of  both  in  the 
different  divisions  of  England  and  Wales.  In  the 
great  majority  of  counties  where  pauperism  tends 
towards  a  maximum,  illegitimacy  does  the  same  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  the  majority  of  counties  where 
pauperism  tends  towards  a  minimum,  illegitimacy 
also  follows  in  its  train.  The  small  number  of 
coMnties  which  are  an  exception  to  this  rule  illus- 
trate the  fact  that  pauperism  is  not  the  only  con- 
dition affecting  the  proportions  of  illegitimacy,  but 
the  vast  preponderance  of  counties  which  conform  to 
the  rule  are  an  assurance  that  it  is  the  principal 
condition. 

The  dependence  of  illegitimacy  on  pauperism  is 
of  a  very  obvious  character.  Among  a  pauperised 
population  economic  circumstances,  or,  in  plain 
language,  the  inability  to  set  up  a  home,  constitute 
a  serious  hindrance  to  the  legitimate  union  of  the 
sexes.  Accordingly,  in  such  a  population,  unless 
counteracting  influences  of  a  most  powerful  nature 
are  at  work,  the  ratio  of  illegitimacy  is  certain  to 
be  high.  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  rate  of 
illegitimacy  in  the  vast  proportion  of  the  rural 
districts  of  England  and  Wales  would  diminish  con- 
siderably if  the  agricultural  labourer  were  in  a 
better  economic  position,  if  he  could  more  easily 
found  a  home,  if  his  future  were  more  assured.  The 
recent  reports  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Labour, 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  33 

respecting  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  labourer, 
make  it  perfectly  plain  that  he  lives  far  too  near  the 
borderland  of  pauperism,  that  his  economic  outlook 
is  far  too  sombre,  that  his  life  is  deficient  in  that 
element  of  economic  stability  which  is  such  a  potent 
factor  in  determining  the  nature  of  the  relations 
between  the  sexes.  The  remarks  we  have  just  made 
respecting  the  agricultural  classes  apply  in  a  mitigated 
form  to  the  industrial  community  in  the  towns.  It  is 
almost  certain  that  if  the  bulk  of  the  industrial  popu- 
lation enjoyed  a  greater  amount  of  economic  security 
the  effect  of  this  would  be  reflected  in  the  growth  of 
a  higher  order  of  relations  between  the  sexes,  and  in 
a  consequent  diminution  of  illegitimacy.  It  is  not, 
of  course,  contended  that  illegitimacy  is  entirely  a 
product  of  adverse  economic  circumstances,  and  that 
the  removal  of  these  circumstances  will  have  the 
effect  of  abolishing  it.  Other  causes  are  at  work  in 
producing  this  evil  besides  causes  of  an  economic 
character.  But  among  all  the  causes  in  operation  in 
England  and  Wales  penury  appears  to  be  the  chief, 
and  in  so  far  as  illegitimacy  is  a  product  of  penury 
and  its  attendant  evils,  it  will  tend  to  diminish  in 
proportion  as  the  most  potent  condition  producing  it 
is  removed.  n 

A  reduction  in  the  proportions  of  illegitimacy^ 
will  in  its  turn  reduce  the  proportions  of  juvenile 
crime.  For,  as  has  been  observed,  other  things  being 
equal,  juveniles  of  illegitimate  parentage  are  more 
likely  to  become  offenders  than  juveniles  born  in 
wedlock.  And  as  there  is  an  intimate  connection 
between  the  proportions  of  adult  and  juvenile  crime, 


134  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

a  reduction  of  the  percentage  of  illegitimacy  will  have 
the  ultimate  effect  of  diminishing  the  criminal  popula- 
tion as  a  whole.  Such  are  the  conclusions  to  which 
we  are  led  by  an  examination  of  the  inter-action 
existing  between  illegitimacy  and  social  conditions 
more  or  less  closely  related  to  it. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  the  connection 
between  orphanhood  and  juvenile  crime.  In  con- 
nection with  the  physical  condition  of  juvenile 
offenders  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  . 
the  circumstance  that  a  considerable  percentage  of 
young  offenders  had  either  one  or  both  parents  dead. 
In  the  present  instance  it  is  our  purpose  to  inquire 
into  the  effect  on  the  juvenile  population  of  the  pre- 
mature loss  of  parental  care. 

In  the  five  years  1887-91  the  number  of  children 
committed    to    industrial    schools    who    had   neither 
father    nor    mother    at    the    time    of  their   commit- 
ment  amounted  to  42  per  thousand,  or  4  per  cent. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  how  large  a  percentage  of  the 
child  population  of  this  country  are  deprived  of  both 
father   and    mother   between  the   ages    of    six   and 
fourteen.     It   is   therefore    impossible    to    say   with 
precision  what  the  effect  on  juvenile  conduct  is  of  the 
loss  of  both  parents.     The  only  remarks  to  be  made 
upon  the  matter  are  that  the  percentage  of  industrial 
school  inmates  who  have  lost  both  parents  is  not  so 
high  as  might  be  anticipated.     The  removal  by  death 
of  both  father  and  mother  before  the  age  of  fourteen  ■ 
means  the  loss  of  the  most    effective    restraints    on 
inexperience  and  immaturity  ;  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  things  it  also  means  an  exposure  to  the  tempta- 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      1 35 

tions  and  vicissitudes  of  the  world  before  the  faculties 
are  sufficiently  ripened  to  grapple  with  them.  In 
these  circumstances  it  is  natural  to  conclude  that 
juveniles  who  are  totally  orphaned  will  form  a 
percentage  of  the  criminal  community  altogether 
out  of  proportion  to  their  number  in  the  general 
population.  As  far  as  industrial  schools  are  con- 
cerned this  does  not  appear  to  be  the  case.  It  is 
probable  that  children  totally  orphaned  do  not  supply 
much  more  than  their  due  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion of  these  institutions. 

The  only  manner  in  which  this  fact  can  be  ex- 
plained is  by  a  reference  to  the  action  of  the  poor 
law  and  of  private  charity.  In  a  very  large  number 
of  cases  children  totally  orphaned  come  under  the 
operation  of  the  poor  law.  According  to  the  Local 
Government  Board  return  for  the  year  1 891-2,  con- 
siderably more  than  one-half  of  the  children  in  receipt 
of  in-door  relief  consisted  of  children  who  were 
orphans  or  children  relieved  without  their  parents. 
These  children  are,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  educated 
in  workhouse  schools,  or  in  separate  poor-law  schools. 
They  come  very  little  in  contact  with  the  outer  world, 
and  the  circumstances  which  would  bring  them  into 
collision  with  the  criminal  law.  The  poor  law  stands 
in  the  place  of  a  parent  to  these  children  ;  it  isolates 
them  from  the  world  and  its  temptations  ;  it  exercises 
such  a  strict  supervision  over  them  that  they  are 
hardly  ever  arrested  as  vagrants  or  thieves  ;  in  short, 
it  effectively  shields  them  from  the  very  class  of 
offences  which  come  within  the  provisions  of  the 
Industrial  Schools  Acts.     In  these  circumstances  it 


136  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  orphan  children  form 
a  comparatively  small  percentage  of  the  industrial 
school  population.  And  these  are  not  all  the  circum- 
stances which  require  to  be  taken  into  account.  Large 
numbers  of  orphan  children  are  looked  after  by- 
charitable  institutions.  The  metropolis  alone  con- 
tains about  three  hundred  voluntary  homes  for 
juveniles,  and  in  most  of  these  institutions  orphans 
have  the  preference.  It  is  to  the  combined  opera- 
tion of  the  poor  law  and  voluntary  homes  that  the 
small  percentage  of  orphans  in  industrial  institutions 
is  to  be  attributed. 

We  come  now  to  the  case  of  children  who  are  not 
absolutely  orphans,  but  who  have  lost  one  of  their 
parents.     Dealing   in    the   first   place   with   children 
who  have  lost  their  fathers,  let  us  see  how  large  a 
proportion    of  these   children    are   annually  sent   to 
industrial   schools.     In   the    five    years    1887-91    the 
number   of  juveniles  with    no    father    committed    to 
the    industrial    schools    of    England    and    Scotland 
amounted    to    20    per    cent,    of    the    total    industrial 
school    population.     It    will    thus    be    observed    that 
fatherless    children    constitute  four  times  as   large  a 
proportion  of  the  inmates    of  industrial    schools   as 
children    who    are    totally   orphans.      A    partial    ex- 
planation of  this  fact  has  already  been  given  in  our 
account  of  the  causes  which  keep  down  the  ratio  of 
orphans  in  industrial  institutions.     A  few  additional 
circumstances  require   to  be  mentioned   in  order   to 
make  this  explanation  more  complete.     It  is  to  be 
recollected,  in    the   first   place,  that   the   number  of 
children    in   the   general    population   who   have   lost 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  37 

their  father  only  is  much  higher  than  the  number 
who  have  lost  both  father  and  mother.  As  these 
children  form  a  higher  proportion  of  the  general 
population,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  they  will  form  a 
higher  proportion  of  the  industrial  school  population. 
But,  even  after  taking  this  circumstance  into  account, 
it  is  highly  probable  that  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers  in  the  general  population,  children  who  have 
the  misfortune  to  lose  their  fathers  by  death  con- 
stitute more  than  their  due  share  of  the  inmates  of 
industrial  schools.  How  does  this  come  to  pass  ? 
It  IS  partly  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
many  of  them  have  inherited  a  feeble  constitution 
from  their  deceased  fathers,  and  are  consequently 
impeded  by  physical  infirmity  at  the  outset  of  their 
industrial  career.  An  impediment  of  this  kind  is 
often  the  precursor  of  juvenile  offences.  Another 
and  very  important  cause  of  the  high  percentage  of 
fatherless  children  in  industrial  schools  is  the  ex- 
cessive and  unexpected  burden  which  the  death  of 
the  father  entails  on  the  mother.  It  is  true  that  the 
poor  law  comes  to  the  assistance  of  widows  with 
young  children  entirely  dependent  upon  them,  and 
in  this  way  a  position  which  would  otherwise  be 
unbearable  is  considerably  mitigated.  In  the  year 
1 89 1 -2,  according  to  the  Local  Government  Board 
returns,  widows  were  receiving  out-door  relief  for 
107,011  children  dependent  upon  them.  But  the 
amount  of  relief  received  by  the  mothers  of  these 
children  is  not  sufficient  by  itself  to  keep  up  the 
home,  and  in  the  majority  of  instances  the  widow 
has  to  supplement  the  efforts  of  public  charity   by 


138  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

corresponding  efforts  of  her  own.  Owing  to  the 
steady  growth  of  the  workshop  system,  and  the 
consequent  decay  of  home  industries,  widows  are 
usually  obh'ged  to  leave  their  children  to  their  own 
devices  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  In 
normal  conditions  of  family  life  the  workshop  system 
of  production  is  probably  on  the  whole  the  best,  as 
it  usually  ensures  a  superior  order  of  hygienic  ar- 
rangements for  the  workers.  But  in  the  exceptional 
case  of  widows  with  children  dependent  on  them, 
not  merely  for  subsistence  but  also  for  maternal  care, 
the  workshop  system  has  serious  defects.  The  en- 
forced absence  of  the  mother  in  the  factory  or  the 
workshop  almost  entirely  deprives  the  family  of  the 
benefits  of  maternal  supervision  and  maternal  affection. 
The  mother  sees  comparatively  little  of  the  children, 
and  is  therefore  apt  to  lose  some  of  the  self-sacrificing 
devotion  of  motherhood  ;  whilst  the  children  see  just 
as  little  of  the  mother  and  often  grow  up  without  the 
hallowing  and  constraining  influences  of  maternal 
love.  A  life  of  this  kind  is  full  of  peril  for  the  young. 
And  the  extent  of  this  peril  may  be  estimated,  by 
remembering  the  fact  that  one-fifth  of  the  industrial 
school  population  is  composed  of  fatherless  children. 

We  have  just  considered  the  effect  of  the  loss  of 
the  father  on  the  conduct  of  the  juvenile  population, 
we  shall  now  investigate  the  effect  of  the  loss  of  the 
mother.  It  is  usually  regarded  as  a  greater  calamity 
for  a  child  to  lose  its  mother  than  to  lose  its  father. 
Among  the  well-to-do  classes,  where  the  home  is 
properly  provided  for  in  the  event  of  the  father's 
premature  death,  the  loss  of  the  father  may,  in  the 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.     1 39 

majority  of  cases,   be  the  lesser  of  two  evils.     But 
in   cases  where  the  home  is   not   properly  provided 
for  in  the  event  of  death,  that  is  to  say,  among  almost 
the  whole  of  the  working-class  population  and  among 
a  considerable  section  of  the  well-to-do  population, 
the  premature  death  of  the  mother  probably  entails 
less  serious  consequences   on  the   children  than   the 
premature  death  of  the  father.     If  the  relative  pro- 
portion  of    fatherless    and    motherless    children    in 
industrial  schools  is  to  be  taken  as  a  test,  it  will  be 
found  that  children  who  are  left  dependent  on  the 
mother   form    a    larger  percentage  of  the   industrial 
school  population  than  children   dependent   on    the 
father.      In  the  five  years    1887-91    the  number  of 
children    dependent    on    the    mother    committed    to 
industrial    schools    constituted,   as    we    have    already 
observed,  20  per  cent,  of  the  inmrte;;  in  the  same 
five  years  the  number  of  children  dependent  on  the 
father  constituted   only   14  per  cent,  of  the  inmates. 
In  estimating  the  worth  of  these   facts  it   is    to  be 
recollected  that  there  are,  probably,  more  fatherless 
than  motherless  children  in  the  general  community, 
owing  to    the    circumstance    that    the    death   rate   is 
higher  among  men   than  among  women.      But   the 
difference  in  the  proportions  of  fatherless  and  mother- 
less children  is  not  nearly  so  high  as  to  account  for 
the  difference  in  the  proportions  of  these  two  classes 
of  children  in  industrial  schools.     It  must  in  the  main 
be  accounted  for  on  other  grounds,  and  some  of  these 
grounds  it  now  devolves  upon  us  to  specify. 

The  first  ground  is  economic.     As  a  rule  the  father 
is  better  able  to  provide  for  the  material  needs  of  the 


I40  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

children  than  the  mother,  and  as  a  result  of  this  the 
children  are  not  obliged  to  attempt  to  do  anything  in 
the  way  of  increasing  the  household  income  at  a  very 
tender  age.  Mothers,  on  the  other  hand,  in  order  to 
to  make  both  ends  meet,  are  often  compelled  to  make 
their  children  earn  a  little  in  the  streets  and  public 
places,  and  the  children  are  in  consequence  exposed 
to  temptations  which  bring  them  within  the  range  of 
the  criminal  law.  In  the  next  place,  the  father,  as  a 
rule,  has  more  authority  over  children  than  the  mother. 
Many  of  the  fatherless  children  committed  to  in- 
dustrial schools  are  sent  there  because  the  mother 
has  lost  all  control  over  them.  These  children  are 
found  in  the  streets  begging  or  in  the  company  of 
criminals,  and  the  mother  is  utterly  unable  to  restrain 
them.  The  father,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  is  aware 
of  it,  is  usually  able  to  prevent  his  children  from 
associating  with  evil  companions  and  from  falling 
into  vagrant  habits,  and  the  prevention  of  these  two 
evils  has  its  effect  in  keeping  down  the  percentage  of 
motherless  children  in  industrial  institutions.  Very 
often  the  greatest  danger  to  motherless  children  is 
the  re-marriage  of  the  father.  In  almost  all  circum- 
stances where  there  are  young  children  re-marriage 
is  a  perilous  experiment,  and  is  very  apt  to  introduce 
division  and  disaster  into  the  home.  This  observa- 
tion applies  to  the  re-marriage  of  either  parent,  but 
it  perhaps  applies  with  the  greatest  force  to  the  re- 
marriage of  the  father.  In  many  instances,  though 
by  no  means  in  all,  the  step-mother  finds  the  children 
she  has  to  look  after  on  entering  her  new  home  a 
burden  which  she  is  glad  to  get  rid  of.     This  is  more 


I 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I4I 

particularly  the  case  when  she  has  afterwards  children 
of  her  own.  In  such  a  home  the  motherless  children 
receive  little  attention,  little  affection,  little  parental 
care.  Sometimes  a  prejudice  against  them  is  thrust 
into  the  father's  mind.  For  these  children  the  home 
loses  all  its  attractions  ;  it  is  a  place  where  they 
are  usually  bullied  and  brow-beaten  ;  as  a  sort  of 
refuge  from  it  they  prefer  the  dangerous  liberty 
of  the  streets.  It  is  the  existence  of  circumstances 
of  this  character  which  do  much  to  raise  the  pro- 
portion of  motherless  juveniles  in  industrial  schools. 
Such  circumstances  occur  much  more  frequently  when 
children  lose  their  mother  than  when  they  lose  their 
father.  The  number  of  widows  who  marry  again  is 
not  nearly  so  great  as  the  number  of  widowers.  In 
1894,  of  every  thousand  men  who  married  in  were 
widowers,  while  of  every  thousand  women  only  yj 
were  widows.  It  deserves  at  the  same  time  to  be 
remarked  that  the  re-marriage  of  widowers  is  steadily 
declining,  and  was  never  so  low  as  it  is  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  outside  our  purpose  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  this  interesting  social  fact ;  it  is  probable 
that  one  of  these  causes  is  the  growing  recognition  of 
the  unhappy  effects  of  re-marriage  on  the  future  of 
the  young. 

In  addition  to  illegitimate  children  and  children 
who  have  lost  one  or  both  parents,  industrial  schools 
also  contain  a  certain  proportion  of  juveniles  who 
have  been  deserted  by  their  parents.  In  the  five 
years  1887-91  this  class  of  children  formed  6  per 
cent,  of  the  industrial  school  population.  Inasmuch 
as  these  children  are  left  absolutely  alone  in  the 
II 


142  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

world  at  a  very  tender  age,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
a  certain  proportion  of  them  should  ultimately  be 
committed  to  industrial  schools.  Children  are  much 
more  frequently  deserted  by  the  father  than  the 
mother.  In  the  year  1890-91  the  number  of  men 
proceeded  against  in  the  criminal  courts  for  deserting 
or  neglecting  to  support  their  family  amounted  to 
7,029,  while  the  number  of  women  charged  with  the 
same  offence  only  amounted  to  217.  In  many  of 
these  proceedings  the  father  was  charged  with  desert- 
ing or  neglecting  his  wife  as  well  as  his  children,  but, 
even  after  taking  this  fact  into  account,  it  is  certain 
that  fathers  are  more  apt  to  desert  their  offspring 
than  mothers.  The  form  which  desertion  frequently 
takes  is  to  leave  the  children  in  a  common  lodging- 
house,  or  to  leave  them  in  charge  of  some  one  and 
cease  to  send  anything  towards  their  support.  But 
sometimes  the  children  are  abandoned  in  the  streets, 
and  are  found  begging  or  wandering  about  without 
any  visible  means  of  subsistence.  In  cases  of  this 
kind  two  alternatives  are  open  to  the  authorities. 
The  children  may  be  taken  to  the  union  and  placed 
under  the  protection  of  the  poor  law,  or  they  may  be 
brought  before  the  magistrates  and  committed  to  an 
industrial  school.  Sometimes  the  one  method  is 
adopted  and  sometimes  the  other,  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  or  the  inclination  of  the 
authorities.  On  the  whole,  it  is  probably  the  best 
plan  to  send  deserted  children  to  industrial  schools. 
When  they  are  sent  to  the  union  the  poor-law  autho- 
rities often  hand  back  the  children  to  the  heartless 
parent  after  he  has  completed  a  term  of  imprisonment 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      1 43 

for  neglecting  them.  Sometimes  the  imprisonment 
may  lead  to  good  results,  generally  it  does  not ;  and 
the  father  who  has  deserted  his  children  once  is 
almost  certain  to  do  so  again.  The  conditions  which 
led  him  to  desert  them  in  the  first  instance  usually 
remain  the  same  after  his  sentence  of  imprisonment 
is  completed.  These  conditions  are  usually  idle, 
drunken,  callous  habits,  or  mental  unfitness  to  bear 
the  entire  burden  of  parental  responsibilities.  Im- 
prisonment leaves  all  these  conditions  as  active  as 
ever,  and  the  man  who  is  a  victim  of  them  is  quite 
unfit  to  be  entrusted  with  the  nurture  of  the  young. 
While  every  precaution  should  be  taken  to  prevent 
children  from  being  deserted,  and  while  making  the 
deserter  of  them  amenable  to  the  criminal  law,  it 
admits  of  little  doubt  that  society  consults  its  best 
interests  when  deserted  children  are  withdrawn  from 
the  control  of  the  parent.  With  children  once 
deserted  the  resumption  of  parental  control  means 
the  renewal  of  parental  cruelty  and  neglect,  and 
initiation  into  habits  of  vagabondage  and  crime. 

Besides  the  children  in  industrial  schools  who  have 
been  deserted  by  their  parents,  there  is  also  a  class  of 
children  whose  parents  are  habitual  criminals.  In  the 
five  years  1887-91  these  children  formed  2  per  cent, 
of  the  industrial  school  population.  The  parental 
condition  of  juveniles  descended  from  criminal  parents 
is  such  that  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  they  should 
be  committed  to  industrial  schools.  At  no  period  of 
life  is  the  impulse  to  imitate  so  keen  as  in  early  youth, 
and  in  very  many  instances  the  child  of  criminal 
parents  falls  into  the  habits  of  its  elders  as  soon  as 


144  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

it  is  capable  of  copying  them.  It  is  of  course  on 
a  small  scale  that  these  habits  are  imitated  to  begin 
with,  but  bolder  enterprises  are  undertaken  as  soon 
as  mental  and  physical  ability  will  permit ;  and  if  a 
child  of  criminal  parentage  should  escape  the  meshes 
of  the  law  till  he  has  acquired  skill  and  expertness 
in  some  branch  of  crime,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
reclaim  him  from  a  criminal  career.  He  becomes  a 
member  of  the  habitual  criminal  class,  and  usually 
remains  a  member  of  it  to  the  last.  It  is  fortunate 
for  society  that  the  cares  of  parenthood  are  largely 
incompatible  with  a  life  of  crime.  In  consequence  of 
this,  criminals  who  have  children  are  often  anxious  to 
get  rid  of  them.  Such  children  fall  upon  the  poor 
law  or  are  admitted  into  voluntary  homes,  or  are 
disposed  of  in  one  way  or  another,  so  that  the 
parental  calling  may  not  be  unduly  hampered.  At 
other  times  criminals  who  want  to  be  rid  of  their 
children  send  them  out  to  beg,  and  in  this  way  a 
certain  proportion  of  them  are  committed  to  indus- 
trial schools.  It  is  chiefly  for  these  reasons  that  in 
this  country  the  criminal  calling  does  not  descend  in 
the  majority  of  cases  from  father  to  son.  It  descends 
by  apprenticeship,  and  not,  as  a  rule,  by  parenthood. 
The  exigencies  of  a  criminal  life  hinder  the  latter 
method  and  encourage  the  former.  This  is  a  point 
which  should  be  kept  carefully  in  view  in  dealing 
with  the  hereditary  aspects  of  crime. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  our  inquiries  into 
the  parental  condition  of  the  industrial  school  popu- 
lation, it  will  be  expedient  to  summarise  the  results 
which  have  just  been  arrived  at.    A  summary  of  these 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      1 45 

results  brings  out  the  fact  that  51   per  cent.,  or  more 
than  one-half,  of  the  inmates  of  industrial  schools  is 
composed  of  children  who  are  either  illegitimate  or 
have  one  or  both  parents  dead,  or  are  the  offspring  of 
criminals  and  parents  who  have  deserted  them.     In 
other  words,  more  than  one-half  of  the  population  of 
industrial   schools  are  in  an  abnormal  parental  con- 
dition.    It  is  interesting  to  find  that  almost  exactly 
the  same  state  of  things  exists  among  the  population 
of  reformatory  schools.     Taking  the  same  period  for 
our  inquiries  as  has  been  taken  for  industrial  schools, 
we   get   very  nearly  the  same   results.     In   the   five 
years   1887-91   the  number  of  juveniles  committed  to 
reformatories  who  were  partially  or  entirely  orphaned, 
or  had  been  deserted,  or  had  criminals  for  parents, 
amounted  to   53  per  cent.     It  is   probable  that  the 
reason  the  percentage  of  juveniles  in  an  anomalous 
parental  condition  is  rather  larger  among  the  reforma- 
tory than  among  the  industrial  school  population,  is 
to  be  attributed  to  the  circumstance  that  reformatories 
accept  juveniles  up  to  the  age  of  sixteen,  while  in- 
dustrial schools  only  accept  them  up  to  the  age  of 
fourteen.      In  any  case  it  will  be  observed  that  in 
both   institutions  more  than  one-half  of  the  inmates 
are  children  bereft,  for  one  cause  or  another,  of  proper 
parental  care.     There  are  no   means  of  ascertaining 
the  proportion  of  juveniles  in  prison  whose  parental 
condition   is  somewhat   similar    to    the   condition    of 
the   children    we    have    already  dealt    with.     Prison 
statistics  do  not  enter  into  the  parental  circumstances 
of  juvenile  offenders.     We  are    therefore    compelled 
to  confine  our  remarks  upon  this  point  to  the  results 


14^  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  inquiries  in  particular  prisons.  These  inquiries 
must  not  be  taken  as  representing  the  juvenile  prison 
population  as  a  whole.  But  so  far  as  they  extend 
they  harmonise  with  the  returns  relating  to  industrial 
schools.  In  evidence  before  the  Prisons  Committee 
I  had  occasion  to  point  out  that  in  one  of  the  largest 
London  prisons  about  one-half  of  the  juvenile  prison 
population  are  either  without  one  or  both  parents,  or 
are  the  children  of  parents  who  have  deserted  them 
or  turned  them  adrift.  In  other  prisons  the  propor- 
tions may  be  somewhat  different,  but  if  the  parental 
circumstances  of  imprisoned  juveniles  are  carefully 
inquired  into  it  will  be  found,  in  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  cases,  that  these  circumstances  are  ano- 
malpus  in  some  form  or  another. 
'  The  general  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  all  that 
has  just  been  gathered  respecting  the  parental  status 
of  juvenile  offenders  are  of  a  very  obvious  character. 
The  first  and  most  important  of  these  conclusions  is 
that  the  future  of  a  child  is  very  largely  determined 
by  the  parental  circumstances  in  which  it  happens  to 
be  placed.  If  a  child  is  of  illegitimate  parentage  it 
is  more  likely,  other  conditions  being  equal,  to  fall  in 
the  battle  of  life  than  if  it  were  born  in  lawful  wed- 
lock. If  a  child  has  the  misfortune  to  lose  one  or 
other  of  its  parents  that  child  is  more  likely  to  become 
a  delinquent  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case. 
Again,  if  a  child  is  the  offspring  of  callous  parents 
who  desert  it,  or  of  criminal  parents  who  corrupt  it, 
its  career  is  rendered  an  exceedingly  hard  one.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  task  of  society,  in  the  light  of  our 
conclusions  respecting  the  parental  conditions  of  so 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      lA.'J 

many  juvenile  offenders,  is  a  very  plain  but  at  the 
same  time  a  very  difficult  task.  This  task  consists 
in  removing,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  the 
conditions  which  prove  so  disastrous  to  the  young. 
Whatever  tends  to  reduce  the  ratio  of  illegitimacy 
will  also  tend  to  reduce  the  dimensions  of  the 
juvenile  criminal  population.  Whatever  tends  to 
reduce  the  death  rate  among  adults  will  also  reduce 
the  number  of  fatherless  and  motherless  children  in 
the  community  ;  and  a  reduction  in  the  proportions 
of  these  children  will  be  accompanied  by  a  reduction 
of  the  number  of  juvenile  offenders  in  prisons,  re- 
formatories, and  industrial  schools.  Lastly,  whatever 
tends  towards  the  moral  and  spiritual  elevation  of 
the  community  as  a  w^hole  will  have  its  effect  in 
diminishing  the  number  of  parents  who  desert  and 
corrupt  their  children.  And  in  proportion  as  the 
number  of  such  parents  diminishes  so  also  will  the 
number  of  children  diminish  who  fall  through 
parental  desertion  and  parental  vice. 

Before  bringing  these  inquiries  into  the  parental 
condition  of  juvenile  offenders  to  a  termination,  a  few 
observations  must  be  made  regarding  the  parental 
circumstances  of  young  offenders  whose  condition  is 
perfectly  normal  as  far  as  relates  to  living  at  home 
with  their  father  and  mother.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  juveniles  of  this  description  constitute  49  per 
cent,  of  the  industrial  school  population  and  47  per 
cent,  of  the  reformatory  school  population.  There 
are  no  means  of  ascertaining  their  numbers  in  the 
prison  population,  but  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  gather 
it  is  quite  as  large  as  the  percentage  in  reformatory 


148  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

schools.  It  is  not  the  fact  of  being  illegitimate  or  the 
fact  of  being  orphans,  or  the  fact  of  being  deserted, 
or  the  fact  of  being  descended  from  habitual  criminal 
parents  which  has  had  a  hand  in  causing  this  large 
percentage  of  offending  juveniles  to  be  committed  to 
prisons,  reformatories,  and  industrial  schools.  In  so 
far  as  parental  condition  has  had  an  effect  in  shaping 
the  career  of  these  juveniles  its  effect  must  have 
operated  through  other  channels  than  those  which 
have  just  been  named.  A  child  may  have  both  its 
parents  alive  and  it  may  be  living  under  the  same 
roof  wdth  them,  but  the  character  of  the  parents, 
although  they  are  not  habitual  criminals,  may  be 
such  that  contact  with  them  has  a  demoralising 
influence  on  the  mind  of  the  young.  In  the  case  of 
juvenile  offenders  with  both  parents  alive  our  in- 
quiries accordingly  take  the  form  of  asking.  What 
sort  of  character  have  these  parents  ?  An  answer  to 
this  question  will  probably  help  us  to  understand  why 
so  large  a  proportion  of  young  people  with  both 
parents  living  and  presumably  under  parental  con- 
trol have  fallen  more  or  less  deeply  into  habits  of 
delinquency. 

Let  us  seek  an  answer,  in  the  first  place,  in  the 
evidence  given  before  the  Royal  Commission  on 
Reformatory  and  Industrial  Schools.  In  reply  to  a 
question  by  Lord  Norton,  a  member  of  the  Gateshead 
School  Board  said  that  the  parents  of  the  children 
committed  to  the  Gateshead  Industrial  School  con- 
sisted of  the  "  refuse  of  the  labourers  in  the  large 
manufactories,  men  who  have  been  thrown  out  of 
employment    and    who    have   drifted    into  the  very 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      1 49 

lowest  class  of  the  population."  In  no  case  were 
the  homes  of  these  parents  decent  and  respectable. 
Respecting  the  inmates  of  the  Park  Lane  Industrial 
School,  Liverpool,  the  superintendent  said  that  "from 
their  connection  with  their  parents,  and  the  sort  of 
people  that  they  come  in  contact  with  in  the  homes 
of  their  parents,  I  have  been  greatly  astonished  when 
talkinsf  to  the  children  to  find  what  a  vast  amount  of 
vice  and  indecency  they  had  listened  to  without  being 
aware  that  there  was  anything  wrong  in  it."  At 
Bristol  the  Commissioners  were  told  that  the  cha- 
racter of  the  parents  of  industrial  school  children  was 
in  most  instances  of  the  very  lowest  description.  Mr. 
Mark  Whitwill,  a  Bristol  magistrate,  who  made  this 
statement  to  the  Commissioners,  said  that  he  could 
tell  the  "particulars  of  every  child  in  the  Carlton 
House  Industrial  School,  and  with  regard  to  the  girls 
he  added  that  "  there  is  not  one  single  instance  where 
I  should  like  to  send  the  girl  back  to  her  parents." 
As  far  as  boys  are  concerned  the  character  of  the 
parents  is  not  quite  so  bad,  inasmuch  as  boys  have 
more  opportunities  of  getting  into  mischief  than 
girls.  This  evidence  coincides  with  the  evidence  of 
Mr.  Trevarthen,  the  Secretary  of  the  Philanthropic 
Society's  Farm  School  for  boys  at  Redhill.  Mr. 
Trevarthen,  speaking,  as  he  admitted,  with  great 
reserve,  said  probably  one-third  of  the  parents  of  the 
boys  in  Redhill  reformatory  were  respectable  persons. 
A  certain  number  of  the  boys  committed  to  Redhill 
pass  through  my  own  hands,  and  as  far  as  these  boys 
arc  concerned  I  should  be  inclined  to  say  that  Mr. 
Trevarthen's  estimate  as  to  the  proportion  of  them 


ISO  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

whose  parents  are  respectable  does  not  err  on  the 
side  of  being  too  low.  A  certain  percentage  of 
widows  and  widowers  whose  children  are  sent  to 
reformatories  are  probably  free  from  reproach.  But 
in  cases  where  reformatory  school  inmates  have  both 
parents  alive  I  find  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  one 
or  other  of  these  parents  is  distinctly  disreputable. 

Perhaps  no  one  occupies  so  favourable  a  position 
for  forming  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  character 
of  the  parents  of  industrial  and  reformatory  school 
inmates  as  the  person  officially  appointed  to  collect 
the  contributions  of  the  parents  of  these  inmates. 
The  duties  of  this  official  bring  him  into  the  closest 
possible  contact  with  the  characters  and  economic 
circumstances  of  the  parents.  He  sees  these  parents 
at  regular  intervals  for  a  period  of  years;  he  sees 
them  in  their  own  homes  and  amid  their  domestic 
surroundings  ;  in  a  word,  he  sees  them,  as  far  as  it 
is  possible  for  an  outsider  to  do  so,  as  they  really 
are.  It  was  stated  by  Mr.  Macdonald,  one  of  those 
agents,  in  reply  to  a  question  of  the  Royal  Com- 
mission, that  only  6  per  cent,  of  the  children  in 
industrial  schools  had  homes  which  were  morally 
fit  for  a  child  to  live  in.  Mr.  Macdonald's  experience 
related  to  the  parents  of  Scotch  children  ;  in  some 
parts  of  England  the  percentage  of  parents  of 
respectable  character  is  rather  higher  than  Mr. 
Macdonald's  estimate.  As  far  as  regards  Man- 
chester, the  chairman  of  the  industrial  schools 
committee  of  the  Manchester  School  Board  stated 
before  the  Commission  that  68  per  cent,  of  the 
parents   of  industrial    school    children    were    known 


PARENTAL  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE  OFFENDERS.      I  5  I 

to  be  disreputable,  147  per  cent,  were  of  doubtful 
character,  and  the  parents  of  17  per  cent,  were 
reported  as  well  conducted.  This  witness  then 
proceeded  to  give  some  interesting  details  respecting 
the  character  of  fifty  parents  who  came  into  collision 
with  the  School  Board  authorities  for  persistently 
neglecting  their  children.  In  these  fifty  cases  648 
summonses  were  served  (or  an  average  of  13  sum- 
monses to  each  person),  43  warrants  were  issued, 
and  94  commitments  to  prison  were  made  out.  Of 
the  94  sentenced  to  imprisonment  only  seven  were 
actually  imprisoned  :  one  served  six  terms,  one  five 
terms,  three  two  terms,  and  one  of  them  one  term  of 
imprisonment.  In  spite  of  all  these  thunders  of  the 
law,  33  of  the  fifty  offenders  were  no  better  than 
before.  As  a  rule  the  parents  who  go  to  prison  are 
hopeless  drunkards  ;  the  remainder  escape  by  pay- 
ment of  the  fines.  A  large  number  of  these  parents 
are  engaged  in  highly  paid  employments  ;  in  many 
cases  it  is  not  poverty  which  hinders  them  from 
fulfilling  their  parental  duties,  it  is  simply  vicious 
habits  of  life. 

Putting  all  these  facts  together  respecting  the 
parental  condition  of  delinquent  children  who  have 
both  parents  alive  and  are  living  at  home  with  them, 
we  are  forced  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in  a 
very  small  percentage  of  cases  is  the  character  of 
the  parents  fit  to  bear  examination.  At  the  very 
least  eighty  of  them  in  every  hundred  are  addicted 
to  vicious,  if  not  criminal,  habits  ;  the  children  come 
into  the  world  in  a  polluted  moral  atmosphere  ;  they 
are  contaminated  from  their  earliest  infancy  without 


152  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

being  aware  of  it ;  and,  although  their  status  is 
normal  as  far  as  the  number  of  their  parents  is 
concerned,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  abnormal 
when  the  character  of  these  parents  is  taken  into 
consideration. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ECONOMIC  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE 
OFFENDERS. 

Economic  condition  of  orphaned  and  deserted  children — Economic 
condition  of  illegitimate  and  partially  orphaned  children — 
Children  dependent  on  their  mothers  only — Economic  condi- 
tion of  juvenile  offenders  with  both  parents  alive — Contri- 
butions of  parents  to  maintenance  of  juvenile  offenders — 
Economic  condition  of  juvenile  prisoners — Juvenile  prisoners 
•  without  homes — Municipal  homes  for  homeless  boys — Juveniles 
in  large  cities — Occupations  of  juvenile  offenders — Relation 
between  occupation  and  crime — Relation  between  unskilled 
labour  and  crime — Unskilled  labourers  and  the  criminal  law — 
The  nature  of  employment  and  crime — Want  of  employment 
and  crime — Industrial  inefficiency  of  the  criminal  population — 
Recapitulation. 

In  order  to  form  a  complete  estimate  of  the  social 
condition  of  juvenile  offenders  it  will  be  expedient 
to  supplement  what  has  been  said  respecting  their 
parental  condition  by  a  corresponding  series  of 
facts  respecting  their  economic  circumstances  and 
economic  equipment.  The  economic  circumstances 
of  a  considerable  number  of  juvenile'  offenders  can 
be  arrived  at  with  tolerable  accuracy  by  looking  at 
their  parental  condition.  In  all  cases  where  they 
have  lost  both  parents  by  death,  or  are  deprived 
of    them    by    desertion,    it    may    safely    be    inferred 

I  S3 


^ 


154  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

that  the  economic  circumstances  of  juvenile  offenders 
are  distinctly  bad.  It  is  impossible  for  a  juvenile 
who  is  left  alone  in  the  world  by  the  death  or 
desertion  of  his  parents  to  be  anything  else  than 
miserably  off  if  he  has  to  depend  entirely  on  his 
own  resources  for  the  means  of  subsistence.  Even 
if  he  obtains  some  sort  of  employment,  his  earnings 
are  too  small  to  keep  him  in  decency  and  comfort. 
But  children  without  parents  and  without  a  home  find 
it  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  regular  and  salutary 
work.  Most  employers  of  young  people  like  to 
know  that  they  have  a  home.  They  do  not  care 
to  engage  a  lad  who  has  to  sleep  in  a  common 
lodging-house — they  know  that  in  such  places  the 
risk  of  contamination  is  very  considerable ;  and  if 
there  is  room  for  choice,  as  there  generally  is  where 
work  is  worth  having,  a  boy  who  has  a  home  is 
taken  in  preference  to  a  boy  without  one.  Thus  it 
comes  to  pass  that  orphaned  and  deserted  children 
have,  as  a  rule,  to  pick  up  their  living  in  a  very 
precarious  manner.  In  large  cities  many  of  them 
earn  a  scanty  pittance  as  street  hawkers  and  news- 
paper sellers  ;  and  when  this  kind  of  occupation 
fails  them,  as  it  often  does,  they  resort  to  begging, 
or  degenerate  into  thieves.  Irregularity  of  occupa- 
tion begets  irregularity  of  habits.  When  manhood 
arrives  it  is  difficult  to  correct  customs  which  have 
become  habitual  in  youth.  The  inability  at  the 
outset  of  life  to  procure  regular  employment  finally 
developes  into  a  want  of  aptitude  for  it.  The  worker 
who  has  been  compelled  to  live  by  casual  employ- 
ment  as  a  youth  finishes   by  preferring    to    live   by 


ECOXOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.    1 55 

this    kind    of  labour  when    he    becomes  a  man.     A 
large  number  of  men  of  this  description  are  drawn 
from    the    ranks    of    juveniles    who    have    lost    their 
parents  or  have  been  abandoned  by  them  in  early 
life.     When  the  slightest  economic  depression  occurs 
this    intermittent    class    of    workers    is    immediately 
affected    by  it.     It    is   always   this  class  which  con- 
stitutes the  largest  section  of  the  unemployed,  and 
also    the    largest    section    of    the    prison    population 
charged  with  offences  against  property.     The  casual 
labourer,  the  vagrant,  the  casual    pauper,  the  petty 
thief,  are    in  a  large  number  of  cases    the  matured 
product  of  the  wretched  material  conditions  attaching 
to  the  orphaned    and   deserted   child.     As  we    have 
already  seen,  children  of  this    description    comprise 
lO  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  industrial   schools, 
and  a  still  higher  percentage  of  the  prison  population. 
Children  who  have  lost  their  fathers  and  live  with 
widowed  mothers,  as  well  as  children  who  are  illegiti- 
mate, are  yi  a  better  economic  position  than  juvenile 
offenders  completely  deprived  of  parental  care.    They 
have   at  least  a  home,  a  shelter  of  some  kind,  and 
this  in  itself  is  an  economic  advantage  in  ^  humble 
way.       But    as    a    rule    juvenile    offenders    entirely 
dependent    on    the    mother    are    low    down    in    the 
economic  scale.     In  most  cases  they  are  indifferently 
clad,    and    in    many   cases    they   have    the    pinched 
appearance  of  children  who  have  been  indifferently 
fed.     The  want  of  proper  clothing  is   an   economic 
disadvantage    of    some    importance    for    this    class 
of   children.     It    often    prevents   them   from    getting 
employment.      Clothes,   it    is   true,   are    the    merest 


156  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

externals  of  respectability,  but.  in  a  great  many 
instances  these  externals  are  the  only  tests  employers 
have  to  go  by,  and  a  boy  in  rags  will  always  be 
looked  upon  with  suspicion  in  the  labour  market 
on  this  account  alone.  It  is  not  at  all  an  uncommon 
thing  for  juveniles  committed  to  prison  to  say  that 
they  cannot  get  work  as  they  have  no  clothes,  and 
one  of  the  many  ways  in  which  prisoners'  aid 
societies  are  of  inestimable  benefit  to  the  young 
consists  in  providing  them,  in  cases  of  need,  with 
a  workmanlike  suit  of  clothes. 

Another  economic  difficulty  with  children  depen- 
dent upon  mothers  alone  is  that  the  mother  is  very 
rarely  able  to  apprentice  them  to  a  trade.  The  regu- 
larity of  habits  and  the  mental  discipline  involved  in 
learning  a  trade  constitute  an  excellent  preparation 
for  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  social  life.  All 
mechanical  operations  of  a  complicated  character 
make  considerable  demands  upon  the  mental  powers. 
They  are  not  merely  a  training  of  the  eye  and  the 
hand  ;  they  are  also  an  admirable  exercise  of  all 
the  mental  faculties  which  a  proper  training  of  the 
eye  and  the  hand  necessitates.  Among  juvenile 
offenders  committed  to  prison  and  dependent  upon 
widows  very  few  are  engaged  in  a  skilled  occupation. 
The  mothers  of  these  juveniles  are  obliged  to  make 
them  adopt  some  sort  of  work  which  will  add  as  much 
as  possible  to  the  scanty  family  income,  and  at  the 
same  time  entail  the  least  possible  expenditure.  The 
learning  of  a  trade  is  incompatible  with  the  fulfilment 
of  these  conditions.  The  children  of  widows  are  ac- 
cordingly put  to  employments  where  they  can  most 


ECONOMIC  CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    1 57 

expeditiously  pick  up  a  living  for  themselves.  Several 
evils  flow  from  this.  In  the  first  place,  the  juvenile 
who  earns  his  own  living  at  a  very  early  age  is 
made  prematurely  independent  of  the  parent,  and 
soon  resents  the  advice  of  those  most  deeply  con- 
cerned in  his  welfare.  Quarrels  arise  ;  the  home  is 
forsaken  for  the  lodging-house  ;  evil  companionships 
are  formed  which  frequently  terminate  in  crime.  In 
the  next  place,  unskilled  labour  is  usually  more  or 
less  irregular,  and  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  a 
homeless  youth  to  tide  over  a  period  of  slackness. 
He  is  in  the  streets  in  a  moment,  and  the  step  is 
an  easy  one  from  the  pavement  to  the  prison  cell. 
Among  the  circumstances  which  tend  to  make  the 
fatherless  child  more  likely  to  become  an  offender 
than  the  motherless,  the  economic  disadvantages 
which  have  just  been  noted  must  be  taken  into 
account. 

We  now  come  to  the  economic  condition  of 
delinquent  juveniles  in  reformatory  and  industrial 
schools  who  have  both  parents  alive.  In  what  sort 
of  position,  as  far  as  regards  the  means  of  subsistence, 
do  these  parents  stand  ?  There  are  several  ways  in 
which  this  may  be  approximately  estimated.  As  a 
first  test  let  us  take  the  percentage  of  parents  of 
offenders  committed  to  reformatory  schools  who  are 
ordered  by  the  magistrates  to  contribute  a  certain 
amount  towards  the  support  of  their  children  while 
in  these  institutions.  After  a  child  has  been  sent 
to  a  reformatory  or  industrial  school,  notice  of  this 
fact  is  transmitted  to  a  local  agent  of  the  Home 
Office  whose  duty  it   is   to  collect   parental  contri- 

12 


158  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

butions.  This  agent  makes  it  his  business  to  ascer- 
tain the  circumstances  of  the  parents,  and  if  he 
considers  that  they  are  able  to  pay  anything  towards 
the  maintenance  of  their  children,  he  endeavours  in 
the  first  place  to  induce  them  to  do  so  voluntarily. 
But  as  a  matter  of  fact  very  few  parents  will  con- 
tribute except  under  legal  compulsion,  and  the  agent, 
in  order  to  enforce  payment,  is  obliged  to  summon 
them  before  a  magistrate.  In  the  year  1892,  as 
a  result  of  this  process,  the  parents  were  ordered 
to  contribute  in  64  per  cent,  of  the  committals 
to  English  reformatory  schools.  In  Scotland"  the 
parents  Avere  obliged  to  contribute  in  24  per  cent. 
of  the  committals.  The  difference  between  England 
and  Scotland  in  the  percentage  of  cases  in  which 
parents  are  called  upon  to  contribute  is  principally 
owing  to  the  fact  that  Scotch  magistrates  are  much 
more  reluctant  to  order  parental  contributions  than 
English  magistrates ;  it  is  not  to  be  attributed  to 
a  material  difference  in  parental  circumstances. 

If  we  pass  from  the  number  called  upon  to  con- 
tribute to  the  amounts  actually  contributed,  and  to 
the  principle  on  which  these  amounts  are  fixed,  we 
arrive  at  a  clearer  estimate  of  the  financial  capa- 
bilities of  the  parents  of  juvenile  offenders.  Let  us, 
in  the  first  place,  state  the  principle  on  which  the 
amounts  which  parents  have  to  pay  are  usually  fixed. 
If  a  parent's  weekly  income  passes  beyond  a  very 
small  sum  he  is  expected  to  pay  out  of  this  income 
a  proportion  equal  to  about  a  penny  in  the  shilling. 
Thus,  for  instance,  a  parent  who  earns  twenty 
shillings  a  week  would,  unless  his    family  is   large, 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.    1 59 

or  unless  he  has  other  exceptional  burdens,  be 
expected  to  pay  twenty  pence  a  week  towards  the 
maintenance  of  his  reformatory  or  industrial  school 
child.  This,  then,  is  the  general  principle  on  which 
contributions  are  usually  fixed,  and  it  shows  that 
although  the  number  called  upon  in  England  to 
contribute  is  large,  yet  the  amounts  which  they 
are  able  to  contribute  may  be  small.  If  the  great 
bulk  of  the  amounts  contributed  are  under  two 
shillings  a  week  it  is  a  proof  that  the  juveniles 
in  industrial  schools  come  from  very  poor  homes  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  all  cases  in  which  the 
contributions  exceed  two  shillings  a  week  there  is 
every  reason  to  conclude  that  these  juveniles  come 
from  homes  in  which  it  was  possible  for  them  to 
have  the  ordinary  advantages  of  the  working-class 
population. 

Passing  from  the  principle  regulating  the  amounts 
parents  are  called  upon  to  contribute,  let  us  now 
endeavour  to  ascertain  the  percentage  of  parents  who 
do  contribute.  The  annual  returns  issued  by  the  in- 
spector of  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  mention 
the  number  of  cases  in  which  parents  are  required 
to  contribute,  but  these  returns  omit  to  mention 
the  proportion  of  parents  who  actually  comply  with 
the  decisions  of  the  court.  The  only  information 
we  possess  relating  to  this  important  point  dates  from 
the  year  1882.  If  this  year  is  taken  as  a  criterion 
it  will  be  found  (see  note  on  next  page,  column  7) 
that  parental  contributions  were  made  in  the  case  of 
4r5  per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of  reformatory  schools 
in  England  and  Scotland,  and  in  40"9  per  cent,  of  the 


i6o 


JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 


inmates  of  industrial  schools.^  Tliese  contributians 
were  not  exclusively  made  by  the  parents  of  juveniles 
who  had  a  father  or  both  a  father  and  mother  alive  ; 
some  of  them  were  made  by  widows.  The  highest 
sum  a  parent  is  liable  to  pay  for  the  maintenance 
of  his  child  in  a  reformatory  or  industrial  school  is 
five  shillings  a  week,  and  it  will  be  seen,  by  looking 
at  the  subjoined  table,  that  the  amounts  contributed 
ranged  from  five  shillings  to  less  than  a  shilling  a 
week.  It  will  also  be  observed  that  the  great  bulk 
of  the  contributors  were  unable  to  pay  as  much  as 
two  shillings  a  week.  In  the  reformatory  school 
cases  only  lo  per  cent,  were  paid  for  at  the  rate 
of  two  shillings  and  upwards,  and  in  the  ind^iStrial 
school  cases  only  15  per  cent,  were  paid  for  at  the 
rate  of  two  shillings  a  week  and  upwards.  There- 
fore, if  the  economic  condition  of  reformatory  and 
industrial  school  inmates  is  reckoned  by  the  pro- 
portion of  them  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  two  shillings 
a  week  and  upwards,  and  if  the  payment  of  two 
shillings  a  week  is  to  be  taken  as  the  standard  of 
comfort,  we   arrive   at   the   result   that  only   10  per 


'  Parental  CoNTRiBUTioxs  to  Reformatory  and  Industrial 
Schools  for  the  Year  1882. 


I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

Refoniiatories 
Per  cent. 

Indust.schools 
Per  cent. 

5s- 

14 
•2 

20 
■I 

•2 

67 

•4 

■0^ 

m  S 

66 

I 

301 
17 

u5 

573 

87 

2316 
13-1 

-a-c 
s 

I8I8 

27-5 

3904 

22-2 

CO 

U. 

T) 

C 

257 

3-9 

600 
3-4 

3° 

c 

2743 
41-5 

7208 
40-9 

1^ 

0. 

England 

and  scotland 

3858 

58-5 

10406 
59-1 

6601 

17614 

ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     l6l 

cent,  of  the  inmates  of  reformatories  were  livinsf 
under  comfortable  economic  conditions,  and  only 
15   per  cent,  of  the  inmates  of  industrial  schools. 

Although  such  a  small  percentage  of  reformatory 
and  industrial  school  inmates  come  from  homes 
where  the  economic  conditions  are  normal,  it  is  at 
the  same  time  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  parents 
are  able  to  pay  over  two  shillings  a  week  in  more 
than  10  or  15  per  cent,  of  the  cases  committed  to 
these  institutions.  But  ability  to  pay  and  willing- 
ness to  do  so  are  two  very  different  things,  and  many 
of  the  juveniles  whose  parents  are  most  able  to 
contribute  come  from  the  most  wretched  homes. 
The  quality  and  comfort  of  a  home  are  not  to  be 
estimated  merely  by  the  income  of  the  person  at  the 
head  of  it.  This  person  may  be  earning  enough  and 
more  than  enough  for  the  legitimate  needs  of  his 
family,  but  the  way  in  which  he  spends  it  may  be 
such  as  to  leave  them  on  the  verge  of  destitution. 
Therefore  in  estimating  the  economic  situation  of 
juvenile  offenders  it  is  essential  to  look  not  merely  at 
the  earnings  of  their  parents,  but  also  at  the  manner 
in  which  these  earnings  are  disposed  of.  A  child 
whose  father  is  only  earning  one  pound  a  week  is 
much  better  off  than  a  child  whose  father  is  earning 
two  pounds  a  week  if  the  father  of  the  one  is  steady 
and  temperate,  and  the  father  of  the  other  wastes 
half  his  earnings  on  drink.  Unfortunately  in  not  a 
few  instances  juvenile  offenders  are  sprung  from 
parents  who  spend  their  substance  on  everything 
except  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  their  children. 
All    these    circumstances    must   be   kept  in    view    in 


l62 


JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 


estimating  the  economic  condition  of  the  child  by 
the  economic  condition  of  its  parents.  And  if  these 
circumstances  are  duly  weighed  it  will  be  found  that 
not  more  than  15  per  cent,  of  the  juveniles  com- 
mitted to  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  come 
from  homes  in  which  they  are  fairly  housed,  fairly 
fed,  and  fairly  clad. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  attention  was  called  to  the 

physical  condition  of  juveniles  committed  to  prison 

between   the    ages    of  sixteen    and   eighteen.      We 

shall  now  complete  this    inquiry  into  the  economic 

circumstances    of  young  offenders    by   a    survey   of 

the  manner  in  which  these  imprisoned  juveniles  had 

to  live.i     In  46  per  cent,  of  the  cases  these  young 

offenders  had  no  settled  home,  and  usually  resorted 

to    common    lodging-houses    for    food    and    shelter. 

Among    these   young  people    the  want    of  a    home 

arose  from  a  variety  of  causes.     A  good  many  were 

without  a  home  because  their  parents  were  dead,  and 

they  had  no  relations  who  had  the  will  or  the  ability 

to  take  partial  charge  of  them.     A   certain  number 

had  no  home  because  their  parents  had  disappeared, 

'  Particulars  of  100  Male  Prisoners,  aged  last  birthday  six- 
teen,  SEVENTEEN,   AND    EIGHTEEN,   IN   WANDSWORTH   PRISON, 

London,  between  June  14  and  20,  1894. 


Living  at 
Home. 

Living  in 
Lodgings. 

One  or  both 

P.iRENTS  DEAD. 

Occupations. 

Skilled  labour. 

Unskilled  labour. 

54  per  cent. 

46  per  cent. 

32  per  cent. 

23  per  cent. 

77  per  cent. 

See  Minutes  of  Evidence  taken  by  the  Departmental  Committee 
on  Prisons,  vol.  ii.  p.  537. 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     1 63 

or  because  the  family  had  been  broken  up  by  parental 
strife.  A  fair  proportion  had  for  one  reason  or 
another  been  turned  out  of  doors  by  their  parents. 
It  is  not  at  all  an  uncommon  thing  among  certain 
sections  of  the  London  population  for  a  parent  to  tell 
his  son  when  the  age  of  sixteen  is  reached  that  he 
must  go  out  into  the  world  and  look  after  himself 
This  is  usually  done  when  the  youth  is  temporarily 
out  of  work.  It  must  also  be  said  that  it  is  a  step 
which  is  often  taken  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  son 
cannot  keep  work  when  he  gets  it,  or  makes  himself 
intolerable  to  the  other  members  of  the  family. 
Then  again  numbers  have  no  home  because  they 
have  been  imprisoned.  It  frequently  happens  that 
parents  will  not  have  anything  more  to  do  with  their 
children  if  they  have  been  convicted  of  crime.  On 
the  other  hand,  some  leave  home  of  their  own  accord. 
This  arises  because  they  get  tired  of  the  restraints  of 
home  life,  or  because  of  cruel  and  dissolute  parents. 
In  some  cases  the  home  is  left  in  consequence  of  the 
want  of  bedroom  accommodation.  Many  juvenile 
offenders  are  members  of  families  ranging  from  six 
to  ten  or  twelve  persons,  and  as  the  family  increases 
the  older  members  have  to  leave  the  home  in  order 
to  make  room  for  the  younger  ones.  It  is  absolutely 
certain  that  in  large  cities  a  considerable  amount  of 
juvenile  crime  may  be  traced  to  this  fact  alone.  The 
absence  of  proper  household  accommodation,  arising 
in  many  instances  from  a  reckless  increase  of  the 
population,  has  the  effect  of  compelling  numbers  of 
young  people  to  resort  to  lodging-houses  at  the  most 
critical  period  of  their  lives.     According  to  the  census 


164  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

returns  for  1891,  as  analysed  by  Mr.  Charles  Booth, ' 
no  less  than  1,294,000,  or  31  in  every  hundred  of 
the  population  of  London,  are  too  thickly  packed 
together  in  their  homes  ;  in  other  words,  two  or  more 
of  the  persons  composing  this  population  have  to  live 
in  one  room.  The  overcrowded  condition  of  such  a 
large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis 
does  not  always -arise  from  poverty :  in  many  cases  it 
is  the  consequence  of  high  rents.  But  no  matter  by 
what  cause  this  state  of  things  is  produced,  it  con- 
stitutes a  most  deplorable  moral  evil,  and  in  the  case 
of  the  young  it  is  often  the  preliminary  to  an  exis- 
tence of  vagabondage  and  crime. 

A  short  time  ago  the  London  County  Council 
started  a  municipal  lodging-house  for  the  homeless 
classes  in  the  metropolis.  When  the  project  was 
first  resolved  upon  a  good  deal  of  discussion  was 
aroused  as  to  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  the  experi- 
ment. But  there  is  little  room  for  doubt  as  to  the 
expediency  of  having  some  sort  of  municipal  shelter 
for  the  floating  mass  of  homeless  boys  who  are  at 
present  drifting  hither  and  thither  on  the  treacherous 
tide  of  London  life.  The  re-housing  of  the  over- 
crowded section  of  the  London  poor,  if  it  is  not,  as 
some  think,  an  impossible  task,  will  be  at  any  rate  a 
prolonged  and  tremendous  enterprise  which  this 
generation  will  not  see  the  end  of  But  it  is  quite 
within  the  compass  of  municipal  effort  to  confer  an 
immediate  benefit  of  immense  importance  upon  that 
part  of  the  immature  population  of  large  cities  who, 
from  one  cause  or  another,  are  left  without  a  home. 
'  See  Address  delivered  before  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  p.  12. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    1 65 

The  immature  have  claims  on  the  consideration  of 
the  community  which  the  mature  do  not  possess. 
Immaturity,  especiall}^  in  large  cities,  is  a  period  of 
great  stress  and  trial  when  unsupported  by  parental 
counsel,  and  exposed  to  the  casual  acquaintanceships 
of  the  ordinary  lodging-house.  One  way  at  least  in 
which  the  perils  incident  to  this  critical  period  of 
life  are  within  the  sphere  of  mitigation  consists  in' 
establishing  a  kind  of  municipal  home  for  homeless  \ 
juveniles,  and  setting  it  apart  for  them  alone.  Under 
wise  and  careful  supervision  an  institution  of  this 
kind  would  have  the  effect  of  protecting  many  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  community  who  have 
the  misfortune  to  be  without  a  home  from  the 
multitude  of  corrupting  influences  inseparable  from 
the  association  of  all  ages  in  the  ordinary  lodging- 
house.  At  the  present  time  at  least  three  thousand 
homeless  youths  are  annually  discharged  from  the 
London  prisons,  and  it  is  certain  that  many  of  them 
would  never  have  fallen  into  crime  at  all  had  they 
not  been  compelled  to  mix  with  the  worthless  and 
depraved  characters  who  frequent  the  common 
lodging-house.  It  is  usually  to  these  places  that  the 
professional  thief  and  burglar  goes  in  search  of 
comparatively  innocent  accomplices  ;  and  a  short  time 
ago  the  newspapers  contained  a  typical  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  habitual  offender  is  able  to 
utilise  the  services  of  the  young.  In  one  of  the 
London  suburbs  a  series  of  daring  robberies  occurred 
which  had  for  a  time  baffled  the  efforts  of  the  autho- 
rities. At  last  it  was  discovered  that  the  perpetrator 
of  these   crimes    adopted   a  very  simple    method    of 


1 66  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

procedure.  In  the  first  place  he  picked  up  a  boy  in  a 
lodging-house.  This  boy's  business  was  to  accom- 
pany the  burglar  on  his  expeditions  and  knock  at  the 
doors  of  the  houses  it  was  intended  to  rob.  If  he 
got  an  answer  he  was  to  ask  for  some  one  whom  he 
knew  did  not  live  there  and  depart.  If  he  received 
no  answer  it  was  a  sign  that  the  inmates  were  all  out 
or  away  from  home.  The  burglar's  opportunity  had 
now  arrived  :  the  boy's  part  of  the  work  was  done. 
He  disappeared,  whilst  the  thief  broke  open  the  door 
and  ransacked  tlie  premises.  Before  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  thief  this  youth  had  been  a  lodging- 
house  waif,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  would  not  have 
become  a  criminal  at  all  if  London  had  contained  one 
or  two  well-conducted  municipal  shelters  exclusively 
for  the  young.  As  it  is  he  and  hundreds  of  his 
fellows  are  yearly  being  initiated  into  the  devices  of 
the  habitual  criminal,  and  end  by  becoming  members 
of  the  criminal  class. 

Coming  back  to  the  juvenile  offenders  whose 
economic  condition  we  have  been  examining,  it 
was  found  that  JJ  per  cent,  of  them  had  not  been 
apprenticed  to  any  trade.  They  designated  them- 
selves as  labourers,  dockers,  hawkers,  newspaper- 
sellers,  errand  boys,  costermongers,  and  so  on  ;  in 
short,  they  belonged  to  the  class  of  casual  and  inter- 
mittent workers  when  they  had  not  sunk  into  the 
class  of  habitual  thieves.  The  proportion  of  these 
juveniles  without  a  trade  corresponds  closely  with 
the  proportion  of  offenders  of  all  kinds  without  a 
trade  in  the  general  prison  population.  The  bulk  of 
convicted  offenders    return    themselves  as  labourers, 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    1 6/ 

but  it  requires  to  be  remarked  that  a  considerable 
number  of  prisoners  who  call  themselves  tradesmen 
are  not  tradesmen  at  all.  When  put  to  the  test 
they  are  found  to  be  absolutely  incompetent,  and 
many  prisoners  class  themselves  as  skilled  workers  in 
the  belief  that  it  will  mitigate  the  severity  of  their 
punishment.  This  belief  is  to  a  great  extent  based 
upon  fact,  for  it  is  no  doubt  the  case  that  certain 
classes  of  skilled  artisans  are  always  required  within 
prison  walls,  and  in  most  instances  the  work  they 
have  to  do  does  not  involve  solitary  cellular  confine- 
ment. It  is  done  in  workshops  or  in  the  open  air, 
and  in  such  circumstances  the  dreadful  and  para- 
lysing monotony  of  prison  life  is  to  a  considerable 
extent  avoided.  In  view  of  these  considerations  it  is 
to  be  recollected  that  the  percentage  of  prisoners 
returned  as  skilled  workers  is  always  in  excess  of  the 
number  who  have  actually  learned  a  trade,  so  that 
they  could  earn  their  living  by  it.  It  is,  in  fact, 
probable  that  75  per  cent,  of  the  prison  population 
cannot  earn  a  living  in  the  exercise  of  skilled  occu- 
pations. 

It  would  be  highly  interesting  if  we  were  able  to 
compare  the  occupations  of  the  prison  population 
with  the  occupations  of  the  general  community,  so 
as  to  see  in  what  way  occupation  is  related  to  crime. 
It  is  hardly  open  to  doubt  that  the  nature  of  a  man's 
occupation  has  some  effect  upon  his  conduct.  A 
man's  best  energies  are  absorbed  in  his  calling  ;  it  is 
his  calling  which  shapes  the  attitude  of  his  mind 
during  the  best  part  of  the  day  and  during  the 
greater    portion  of   his  active    life.     Occupation    ac- 


1 68  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

cordingly  begets  a  mental  attitude,  a  habit  of  mind, 
a  way  of  looking  at  things  which  must  exercise  an 
influence  of  some  sort  in  determining  human  action. 
Unfortunately  we  have  no  certain  means  of  judging 
how  far  the  influence  of  occupation  extends.  In  the 
first  place,  as  has  just  been  observed,  the  returns  as 
to  occupation  of  the  prison  population,  whether 
juvenile  or  adult,  are  not  of  a  very  accurate  cha- 
racter, and  in  the  next  place,  even  if  they  were  made 
sufficiently  accurate  to  admit  of  comparison,  they  are 
not  drawn  up  on  the  same  lines  as  the  occupations  of 
the  general  community,  as  recorded  in  the  census 
returns.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  when  the  next  returns 
dealing  with  the  occupations  of  the  prison  population 
are  issued,  that  they  will  be  constructed  so  as  to 
harmonise  as  far  as  possible  with  the  returns  of  the 
last  census  relating  to  the  occupations  of  the  general 
population.  If  this  were  done  it  would  perhaps  be 
possible  to  form  some  sort  of  estimate  of  the  effect 
of  occupation  upon  the  tendency  to  crime  ;  at  present 
all  estimates  of  this  character  must  be  accepted  in 
the  light  of  mere  approximations. 

In  spite  of  the  imperfection  of  existing  materials 
for  estimating  the  effects  of  occupa>tion  upon  the 
tendency  to  crime,  there  is  at  least  one  important  fact 
which  comes  clearly  into  view.  That  fact  is  the  high 
percentage  of  low-skilled  workers  in  the  juvenile  and 
adult  prison  population  as  compared  with  the  per- 
centage of  this  class  of  workers  in  the  general  com- 
munity. In  the  general  community  labourers  of  all 
kinds — agricultural  labourers,  general  labourers,  road 
and  railway  labourers — do  not  at  the  outside  exceed 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    l6g 

20  per  cent,  of  the  male  population  over  fifteen  years 
of  age.  But,  as  has  just  been  observed,  the  proportion 
of  labourers  in  the  male  prison  population  amounts 
to  between  65  and  75  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  There- 
fore, according  to  the  most  moderate  calculations,  the 
class  of  low-skilled  workers  is  between  three  and  four 
times  more  numerous  in  the  prison  population  than 
in  the  general  community.  Of  these  workers  it  is 
the  general  and  not  the  agricultural  labourer  who 
does  so  much  to  swell  the  returns  of  crime.  As  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  judge  from  personal  observation 
and  experience,  the  agricultural  labourer  does  not 
contribute  more  than  his  proper  proportion  to  the 
ranks  of  the  prison  population  :  the  abnormal  propor- 
tion of  labourers  in  prisons  is  made  up  of  general 
labourers  from  the  towns.  It  needs,  however,  to  be 
noted  that  a  considerable  number  of  offenders  who 
class  themselves  as  labourers  are  in  reality  thieves, 
vagabonds,  tramps,  and  outcasts,  and  the  existence 
of  this  circumstance  makes  the  general  labourer 
appear  in  a  worse  light  in  the  records  of  crime. 
But  this  circumstance  does  not  affect  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  class  which  is  lowest  down  in  the  ranks  of 
industry  which  supplies  the  largest  percentage  of 
offenders  committed  to  prison.  Habitual  thieves  and 
vagabonds  who  return  themselves  as  labourers  are 
men  without  a  trade. 

We  now  come  to  the  question  why  such  a  large 
proportion  of  the  prison  population,  both  juvenile 
and  adult,  is  composed  of  labourers.  One  reason 
is  that  this  class  of  the  community  is  so  low  down 
in   the   economic  scale   that   a   comparatively  small 


170  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

number  of  offenders  belonging  to  it  are  able  to 
purge  their  offences  by  the  payment  of  a  fine.  They 
have  therefore  to  submit  to  the  alternative  and  go  to 
prison  in  all  cases,  and  they  are  very  numerous,  in 
which  the  penalty  is  a  fine  or  imprisonment.  On  the 
other  hand,  skilled  workers  and  the  well-to-do  almost 
always  escape  imprisonment  if  the  sentence  is  accom- 
panied by  the  option  of  a  fine.  But  inability  to  pay 
fines,  although  it  counts  for  something,  is  not  the 
principal  cause  of  the  high  percentage  of  labourers 
in  the  prison  population.  The  principal  cause  un- 
doubtedly is  that  the  ranks  of  the  general  labourer 
are  recruited,  as  a  rule,  from  the  most  backward,  the 
most  impoverished,  the  least  self-respecting  class  in 
the  community.  Recruits  also  come  in  considerable 
numbers  from  those  who  have  failed  at  other  occu- 
pations either  from  want  of  ability  or  from  want  of 
character,  or  from  some  circumstance  which  has  in- 
capacitated them  from  pursuing  the  trade  they  may 
have  learned.  In  order  to  secure  employment  the 
general  labourer  requires  little  ability  and  no 
character,  and  as  a  result  of  this,  general  labour  is 
the  usual  resort  of  persons  without  worldly  advan- 
tages of  any  sort,  and  the  last  refuge  of  all  who  have 
failed,  from  whatever  cause,  in  other  branches  of 
industrial  life.  It  is  also  the  only  resource  of  a  large 
class  of  juveniles  who  have  no  parents  or  no  home, 
or  whose  parents  are  too  poverty  stricken  or  too  dis- 
solute to  give  their  children  a  training  in  some  skilled 
employment. 

Finally,  the  nature  of  low-skilled  labour  must  be 
reckoned  as  contributing  to  the  high  percentage  of 


ECONOMIC   COXDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.    I7I 

general  labourers  in  the  prison  population.  As  a 
rule  the  less  skilled  an  occupation  is  the  more 
difficult  it  becomes  to  get  regular  work  at  it,  and 
irregularity  of  employment  is  a  fruitful  source  of 
crime.  In  addition  to  this  evil  the  character  of  low- 
skilled  labour  is  very  seldom  calculated  to  exercise 
a  refining  or  humanising  influence  on  the  labourer. 
It  generally  consists  of  manual  work  of  the  roughest 
description,  and  the  mind  undoubtedly  has  a  tendency 
to  take  its  tone  and  temper  from  the  nature  of  the 
materials  which  engage  so  much  of  its  attention.  In 
many  departments  of  industry  the  introduction  of 
machinery  has  had  a  pernicious  effect  on  the  worker 
as^  a  man,  inasmuch  as  it  has  almost  abolished  the 
necessity  for  the  mental  training  involved  in  the 
acquirement  of  high  mechanical  skill.  But  in  so  far 
as  machinery  is  being  utilised  for  performing  the 
roughest  work  of  the  world,  it  must  be  looked  upon 
as  an  unmitigated  good,  and  the  more  it  can  be 
brought  into  play  for  this  purpose  the  better  it  will  be 
for  the  low-skilled  labourer  from  a  moral  and  pro- 
bably also  from  a  material  point  of  view. 

Of  the  juvenile  offenders  whose  circumstances  I 
have  inquired  into,  it  now  remains  to  be  added  that 
30  per  cent,  were  at  regular  work  when  placed  under 
arrest.  It  will  be  seen  from  these  figures  that  among 
the  juvenile  population  the  possession  of  work  is  not 
a  complete  preventive  against  the  commission  of 
crime.  At  the  same  time  it  undoubtedly  has  a 
tendency  to  diminish  its  proportions.  Juveniles 
engaged  in  a  regular  occupation  which  absorbs  their 
time  and  energies  during  the  greater  portion  of  the ' 


1/2  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

day  are  removed  by  this  circumstance  alone  from  a 
host   of  temptations    which    beset    the    unemployed. 
Moreover,  destitution  does  not  tempt  them  to  commit 
offences  against  property,  and  when  juveniles  in  work 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  criminal  law  it  is  usually 
for  offences  such  as  assault,  gambling,  drunkenness, 
malicious  damage,  obscene  language,  disorderly  con- 
duct, and  so  on.     Nevertheless  a  certain  percentage 
of  juveniles  in  work  are  convicted  of  theft  and  em- 
bezzlement   and    sometimes    of   housebreaking    and 
burglary.     But  the  bulk  of  offences  of  this  descrip- 
tion, when  committed  by  juveniles  at  all,  are  committed 
by  juveniles  out  of  employment.     In  short,  occupa- 
tion has  the  effect  of  altering  the  form  which  juvenile 
crime  assumes  ;  it  has  even  the  effect  of  diminishing 
its  amount,  but  it  has  not  the  effect  of  totally  abolish- 
ing   crime.      Adverse   economic   conditions   are    no 
doubt  a  potent   factor  in  arousing  and    stimulating 
criminal  desires,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that 
crime  is  entirely  a  product  of  economic  adversity.     It 
is  one  among  the  many  conditions  which  produce  a 
criminal  career,  but  it  is  not  by  any  means  the  sole 
condition.       Whilst     denying    the     omnipotence    of 
economic    conditions    in    the  production    of  juvenile 
crime,  it  must,  on  the  other  hand,  be  emphasised  that 
economic  remedies  in  the  shape  of  steadier  work  and 
better  wages  would  do  a  great  deal  towards  reducing 
the  proportions  of  juvenile  offences  against  property. 
Moral  life,  like  life  as  a  whole,  stands  upon  a  material 
foundation,  and   if  the  virtues  are  not  resting  on  a 
material    basis    in    the    form    of    steady   work    and 
adequate  remuneration^  they  will  be  in  most  cases  but 


ECONOMIC   CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.     1/3 

poor  and  sickly  plants.  Of 'course  instances  exist 
of  the  absence  of  material  blessings  combined  with 
purity  and  elevation  of  character,  but  these  instances 
are  exceptions  which  cannot  be  cited  as  standards  for 
the  ordinary  man.  The  ordinary  man — that  is  to  say, 
the  great  mass  of  mankind — is  deteriorated  when 
placed  under  abnormal  economic  conditions.  Adverse 
conditions  of  this  kind  prevent  him  from  obtaining  a 
proper  amount  of  physical  nourishment,  and  physical 
deterioration  is  often  the  prelude  to  mental  degene- 
racy. Insufficient  food,  insufficient  shelter,  insuffi- 
cient clothing,  degrade  men  in  their  own  eyes  ;  they 
imagine,  and  not  without  reason,  that  they  are  objects 
of  contempt  to  the  community,  and  in  many  cases 
their  conduct  eventually  falls  to  the  same  miserable 
level  as  their  economic  surroundings.  This  is  more 
especially  the  case  with  the  young.  Juveniles  in 
all  ranks  of  life  are  exceedingly  sensitive  to  public 
opinion,  and,  unless  gifted  with  great  inborn  force  of 
character,  are  apt  to  become  what  the  world  in 
general  considers  them  to  be. 

We  shall  now  complete  our  examination  of  the 
economic  condition  of  juvenile  offenders  by  endea- 
vouring to  show  why  three-fourths  of  them  are  out  of 
work,  or  practically  out  of  work,  at  the  time  of  their 
arrest.  The  possession  of  work  or  the  want  of  it 
is  dependent  upon  two  fundamental  conditions — 
personal  competence,  and  the  state  of  trade.  As  a 
rule  both  these  conditions  operate  simultaneously, 
and  it  is  not  very  often  that  the  loss  of  employment 
is  produced  by  one  of  them  alone.  In  depressed 
times  it  is  the  least  efficient  who  are  the  first  to  lose 
13 


1/4  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

work,  and  it  is  only  on  those  rare  occasions  when  an 
industry  comes  to  a  standstill  that  the  thoroughly 
competent  workman  is  thrown  completely  idle.  In 
the  ranks  of  labour  the  weakest,  the  most  unfit  indus- 
trially, are  always  the  first  to  fall ;  the  fittest,  the  most 
efficient,  are  always  the  last.  In  periods  of  great 
commercial  prosperity  almost  any  one  can  get  some- 
thing to  do  if  he  chooses  to  do  it,  but  as  soon  as 
these  exceptional  circumstances  begin  to  pass  away 
the  process  of  eliminating  the  least  capable  workers 
immediately  and  imperceptibly  comes  into  operation. 
The  least  efficient  are  the  first  to  be  cast  adrift  ;  the 
class  above  them  follows  if  trade  depression  deepens, 
and  the  process  of  sacrificing  the  less  fit  continues 
until  trade  commences  to  revive.  All  of  us  who  are 
engaged  in  the  task  of  procuring  occupation  for  dis- 
charged prisoners  are  constantly  being  confronted 
with  the  operation  of  this  law.  A  low  standard  of 
industrial  ability,  and  therefore  a  considerable  diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  employment  or  of  keeping  it  when 
once  obtained,  is  as  great  a  drawback  to  the  dis- 
charged prisoner  as  the  condition  of  the  labour 
market.  In  a  very  considerable  number  of  cases  the 
discharged  prisoner  is  below  the  average  in  industrial 
capacity.  Employers  say  that  he  is  not  worth  his 
wages,  that  he  is  irregular  in  his  habits,  that  he  is 
unsteady,  that  he  is  not  to  be  depended  upon.  In 
these  circumstances  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
the  discharged  prisoner  should  fall  out  of  work  as 
soon  as  the  full  tide  of  trade  begins  to  recede.  And 
when  he  loses  work  he  falls  back  instinctively  upon 
the  criminal  habits  of  the  past. 


ECONOMIC  CONDITION  OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    1 75 

What    applies    to     offenders    in    general    applies 
with    equal    force    to    the    juvenile    offender.       He 
is  out  of  work    quite    as    much    on    account   of  in- 
dustrial inefficiency  as  on  account  of  the    condition 
of    trade.      As    a   rule    the    juvenile    offender    has 
received    little    or    no    industrial  training,  as   a    rule 
he    has    not    been    accustomed    to    habits    of    regu- 
larity,   in    many    cases    his    home    surroundings    are 
against  him,  and  it  often  happens  that  he  has  not  the 
physical    strength    for"  the  only    kind    of  labour    he 
would    otherwise   be    competent    to    perform.      He 
accordingly   belongs    to    the    class    of    intermittent 
workers  who  are  called  in  during   emergencies,  and 
are  got  rid  of  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.     He 
has    no    permanent   occupation,  he    drifts    from    one 
thing  to  another,  and  is  in  reality  never  in  work  in 
the  sense  of  having  some  stable  occupation  at  which 
he   can    count    on    earning    a    regular   weekly  wage. 
From   what   has   already   been    said    respecting   the 
physical    and    parental    condition    of  these    juvenile 
offenders,    it    is    perfectly    plain    that   the    industrial 
inefficiency  which   plays  so  large  a  part  in  making 
them  what  they  are  is  in   most  cases  outside  their 
own  control.     "  How  shall  a  child  of  the  slums,  ill- 
fed  in  body  and  mind,  brought  up  in  the  industrial 
and    moral    degradation   of  low   city    life,  without    a 
chance  of  learning  how  to  use  hands  or  head  and  to 
acquire  habits  of  steady  industry,  become  an  efficient 
workman?     It  is  the  bitterest  portion  of  the  lot  of 
the  poor  that  they  are  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of 
learning  to  work  well.     Here  and  there  an  individual 
may  be  to  blame  for  neglected  opportunities  ;  but  the 


176  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

poor  as  a  class  have  no  more  chance  under  present 
conditions  of  acquiring  efficiency  than  of  attaining  to 
refined  artistic  taste  or  the  culminating  Christian  virtue 
of  holiness."  ^ 

The  results  of  this  inquiry  into  the  economic  con- 
ditions of  juvenile  offenders  may  now  be  briefly  re- 
capitulated. As  far  as  offenders  committed  to  in- 
dustrial and  reformatory  schools  are  concerned,  it 
has  been  shown  that  the  economic  condition  of  those 
among  them  who  are  orphans,  or  deserted,  or  illegi- 
timate, or  the  children  of  widows,  is  about  as  bad  as 
it  can  be.  Juveniles  in  this  position,  when  of  an  age 
to  do  something  for  themselves,  are  too  impoverished 
to  be  apprenticed  to  a  trade  ;  they  have  to  engage  in 
irregular  and  low-paid  occupations.  Offenders  com- 
mitted to  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  who 
have  both  parents  alive  are  also  in  the  main  in  a  bad 
economic  condition.  This  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that  in  only  15  per  cent,  of  the  committals  to  in- 
dustrial schools  were  the '  parents  able  to  pay  two 
shillings  a  week  towards  the  maintenance  of  their  off- 
spring. In  reformatory  cases  the  parents  only  paid 
in  10  per  cent,  of  the  cases.  The  great  mass  of 
industrial  and  reformatory  school  children  with  both 
parents  alive  are  therefore  in  very  much  the  same 
adverse  economic  position  as  the  class  of  children 
who  are  either  wholly  or  partially  orphaned.  They 
too  have  to  follow  the  poorest  paid  and  most  fluctu- 
ating kinds  of  labour.  When  we  come  to  consider 
the  economic  circumstances  of  juvenile  offenders  in 
prisons  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen  we 
*  J.  Hobson,  "  Problems  of  Poverty." 


ECONOMIC  CONDITION   OF  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.    1 7/ 

discover  a  very  similar  state  of  things.  Of  this  class 
of  offenders  no  less  than  46  per  cent,  were  homeless, 
no  less  than  y/  per  cent,  were  low-skilled  workers, 
and  no  less  than  70  per  cent,  had  little  or  no  employ- 
ment at  the  time  of  their  arrest.  The  figures  relating 
to  juveniles  in  prison  were  collected  in  1894-5 — that 
is  to  say,  during  a  time  of  commercial  depression. 
Allowance  must  therefore  be  made  for  this  circum- 
stance. .  But  after  this  allowance  has  been  made  they 
certainly  point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  economic 
condition  of  a  large  contingent  of  the  juvenile  criminal 
population  who  are  entering  upon  manhood  is  a 
very  precarious  one,  inasmuch  as  it  is  so  exceedingly 
sensitive  to  the  slightest  movements  of  trade. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  other  causes 
besides  economic  conditions  play  their  part  in  bend- 
ing the  mind  toward  criminal  courses,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  an  improvement  in  economic  sur- 
roundings alone  will  ever  banish  criminal  propensities 
from  the  human  heart.  Nevertheless  it  is  equally 
indisputable  that  if  it  were  possible  to  effect  some 
permanent  improvement  in  the  economic  circum- 
stances of  the  most  impoverished  sections  of  the 
juvenile  population  offences  against  property  would 
undoubtedly  manifest  a  distinct  tendency  to  diminish. 
The  only  way  in  which  it  seems  possible  to  effect  this 
improvement  is  by  raising  the  standard  of  industrial 
efficiency  among  the  least  favoured  members  of  the 
juvenile  population.  How  this  reform  is  to  be 
accomplished  is  undoubtedly  a  most  formidable 
problem.  It  will  never  be  accomplished  if  left  to  the 
parents  of  such  children    in  cases  where  they  have 

I 
I 

I 


178  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

parents.  It  is  a  reform  which  must  proceed  from 
collective  action  on  the  part  of  the  community. 
At  present  the  community  confines  its  operations 
to  bestowing  industrial  training  on  children  who 
have  actually  fallen  ;  it  is  probable  that  it  would  be 
a  wiser,  and  in  the  end  a  more  economic,  policy 
to  bestow  a  similar  training  on  those  who  are  likely 
to  fall. 


PART  II. 

THE   REPRESSION  OF  JUVENILE  CRIME. 

CHAPTER     IX. 
ADMONITION. 

Principle  determining  repressive  methods — Classification  of  actual 
repressive  methods — The  selection  of  the  proper  method  in  each 
individual  case — The  trial  of  juveniles — The  individual  and 
social  circumstances  of  the  offender  must  be  considered_  as 
well  as  the  offence — The  legal  defence  of  children  in  France 
and  Belgium — Trial  of  juveniles  in  Belgium — Trial  of  children 
in  Michigan — School  board  agents  and  juvenile  offenders — 
Work  of  these  agents  in  Liverpool — English  criminal  courts — 
Admonition — Admonition  an  ancient  custom — Admonition  in 
England — Admonition  alone — Admonition  and  conviction — 
The  Massachusetts  system  of  probation — Value  of  this  system 
— The  probation  system  in  England,  the  Continent,  and  the 
Colonies — The  Belgian  system — Results  of  the  system. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  our  en- 
deavour to  examine  several  of  the  principal  condi- 
tions which  produce,  or  which  have  a  tendency  to 
produce,  the  juvenile  offender.  In  the  course  of  this 
examination  it  was  discovered  that  the  juvenile 
offender  is  a  result  of  the  adverse  individual  and 
social  conditions  under  which  he  has  to  live.  As  far 
as  adverse  individual  conditions  are  concerned,  it  was 

found,  for  example,  in  a  very  considerable  proportion 

179 


I  So  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

of  cases  that  the  juvenile  who  comes  within  the  arm 
of  the  law  is  both  mentally  and  physically,  as  well  as 
morally,  below  the  average  of  the  general  youthful 
population  of  the  same  age  and  sex.  And  as  far  as 
social  conditions  are  concerned  it  was  likewise  found 
that  the  parental  and  economic  circumstances  of  the 
delinquent  juvenile  are  in  the  majority  of  cases 
exceedingly  defective  and  abnormal.  In  short,  the 
final  outcome  of  our  inquiry  was  to  bring  home  the 
conviction  that  juvenile  crime  is  the  necessary  and 
natural  outcome  of  the  miserable  individual  and 
social  circumstances  of  the  juvenile  offender.  It 
follows  from  what  has  been  said  respecting  the 
genesis  of  juvenile  delinquency,  that  the  only  effective 
method  of  dealing  with  it  so  as  to  diminish  its  pro- 
portions is  to  remove  the  conditions  from  which  it 
originates  as  far  as  they  are  removable.  Methods  of 
repression  and  prevention  which  do  not  have  this 
supreme  end  steadily  and  conspicuously  in  vie'vv  will 
only  attain  success  of  a  temporary  and  fictitious 
character.  Methods  of  repression  and  prevention,  on 
the  other  hand,  which  consistently  aim  at  eliminating 
the  causes  which  tend  to  turn  the  young  into  the 
paths  of  crime  are  certain  to  be  rewarded  by  a 
reduction  in  the  numbers  of  juvenile  criminal  popu- 
lation. 

In  the  light  of  these  principles  we  shall  now. pro- 
ceed to  look  at  the  methods  of  repression  actually  in 
operation  for  dealing  with  the  juvenile  offender. 
These  methods,  when  we  come  to  arrange  them, 
may  be  conveniently  divided  into  three  classes — 
admonitory,  punitive,  and  educational.     Admonitory 


ADMONITION.  1 8 1 

methods  deal  with  the  offender  in  the  form  of  merely- 
warning  him  against  a  repetition  of  the  offence,  or  in 
the  way  of  putting  him  upon  his  good  behaviour,  by- 
requiring  him  to  come  up  for  judgment  when  called 
upon,  or  putting  him  under  surveillance.  Punitive 
methods  of  repression  consist  in  fining  the  offender, 
in  sentencing  him  to  corporal  punishment,  or  in  com- 
mitting him  for  a  certain  time  to  prison.  Educational 
methods  deal  with  the  offender  by  .sending  him  to  day 
industrial  schools,  to  truant  schools,  to  industrial  and 
reformatory  schools,  to  voluntary  homes,  or  to  private 
persons  who  are  willing  to  receive  him.  The  delicate 
and  difficult  task  of  the  magistrate  lies  in  selecting 
the  proper  method  of  treatment  in  each  individual 
case,  and  the  only  manner  in  which  this  arduous  duty 
can  be  satisfactorily  performed  is  when  the  magistrate 
has  before  him  an  accurate  personal  record  of  the 
circumstances  and  antecedents  of  the  young  offender. 
It  does  not  follow,  as  is  sometimes  supposed,  that  two 
children  who  have  committed  precisely  the  same 
offence  should  be  dealt  with  by  courts  of  justice  in 
exactly  the  same  manner.  If  the  personal  and  social 
circumstances  of  these  two  children  are  different  the 
decision  of  the  court  in  dealing  with  them  must  be 
regulated  by  these  circumstances,  and  not  merely  by 
the  nature  of  the  offence.  Two  children,  let  us  say, 
are  equally  concerned  in  a  case  of  petty  theft  :  in  the 
eye  of  the  law  both  of  them  are  equally  guilty,  but  if 
their  circumstances  differ  it  is  not  in  the  interests  of 
social  security  that  they  should  both  receive  the  same 
kind  of  sentence.  The  one  child,  it  may  be,  is  the 
son   of  respectable   and    honest   parents    who   have 


1 82  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

endeavoured  to  do  their  duty  by  their  family  ;  the 
other,  as  frequently  happens,  is  a  child  who  has  lost 
his  mother,  and  who  has  to  live  without  supervision 
of  any  kind  owing  to  the  callousness  or  drunken 
habits  of  his  father.  In  the  first  case  it  may  be  quite 
sufficient  for  repressive  purposes  to  dismiss  the  young 
offender  with  an  admonition,  or  to  call  upon  his 
father  to  become  surety  for  his  good  behaviour ;  in 
the  second  case  it  may  be  necessary  in  the  interests 
of  the  child's  future  welfare,  and  also  for  the  sake  of 
society  as  a  whole,  that  the  neglected  juvenile  should 
be  committed  to  an  educational  institution.  In  the 
one  case  the  State  may  safely  rely  on  the  natural 
educational  agency  of  the  home,  in  the  other  it  can- 
not, and  as  a  consequence  it  must  adopt  methods  of 
repression  adapted  to  the  unfortunate  parental  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  child  is  placed. 

In  addition  to  illustrating  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
necessarily  in  the  interests  of  society  that  two 
offenders  equally  guilty  should  receive  precisely  the 
same  kind  of  sentence,  the  case  which  has  just  been 
mentioned  also  illustrates  the  importance  of  supply- 
ing the  magistrate  with  as  accurate  an  account  as 
possible  of  the  individual  and  social  circumstances  of 
the  young  offender.  When  a  court  of  law  is  un- 
acquainted with  these  circumstances  its  judgment 
must  be  determined  to  a  large  extent  by  the  nature 
of  the  offence  alone.  A  decision  of  this  character  is 
often  attended  with  unsatisfactory  results.  In  order 
to  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  case  a  judgment 
should  be  based  not  merel>  upon  the  nature  of  the 
offence,  but    also    upon   the   circumstances    of    the 


ADMONITION.  1 8  3 

offender.  In  offences  involving  the  trial  of  young 
people  many  magistrates  call  upon  the  police  to 
supply  them  with  all  available  information  respecting 
the  parental  and  social  condition  of  the  young 
offender,  but  it  would  be  a  great  aid  to  the  efficient 
administration  of  justice  if  these  circumstances  were 
always  placed  before  the  criminal  courts  as  a  matter 
of  course  by  some  agency  existing  for  the  express 
purpose.  According  to  M.  Drucker  in  his  excel- 
lent book  on  the  protection  of  children,^  a  society 
exists  in  Paris  for  the  legal  defence  of  children 
brought  before  the  criminal  courts.  In  the  course  of 
its  existence  this  society  has  succeeded  in  doing  an 
immense  amount  of  valuable  work,  and  has  been  of 
the  greatest  assistance  to  the  courts  of  justice  in  all 
cases  connected  with  the  trial  of  children  and  the 
treatment  of  children  pending  the  day  of  trial.  In 
addition  to  bringing  all  the  facts  connected  with  the 
case  before  the  magistrates,  a  society  of  this  kind  is 
often  able  to  show  that  the  juvenile  is  innocent  of  the 
crime  laid  to  his  charge.  I  am  convinced,  from  long 
and  watchful  observation,  that  there  is  generally  a 
greater  danger  of  a  miscarriage  of  justice  in  the  case 
of  young  people  than  in  the  case  of  adults.  Imma- 
turity, inexperience,  bewilderment,  prevent  a  young 
person  from  being  able  to  defend  himself  in  a  satis- 
factory manner,  or  to  clear  himself  when  he  is  actually 
innocent.  Cases  occur  from  time  to  time  in  which 
children  who  are  completely  innocent  are  detained 
in    prison.      One   of    these   cases    was   reported    in 

'  "  Le  Protection   des   Enfants  Maltraites  et  Moralement  Aban- 
donnes,"  par  Gaston  Drucker.     Paris,  1894. 


1 84  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

the  London  press  in  the  month  of  August,  1895. 
According  to  the  report,  an  errand  boy  of  fourteen 
years  of  age,  who  had  been  more  than  twelve  months 
in  his  master's  service,  was  charged  with  theft.  He 
was  entrusted  with  the  delivery  of  a  parcel  to  one  of 
his  master's  customers,  and  it  was  charged  against 
him  that  he  had  not  delivered  it.  The  boy  main- 
taiiied  that  he  had  delivered  the  parcel,  but  the 
circumstances  were  so  suspicious  that  he  was  re- 
manded to  prison.  In  the  meantime  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  parcel  had  been  delivered,  but  that 
it  had  been  mislaid  by  the  people  who  received  it. 
When  these  facts  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
court  the  magistrate  dismissed  the  case,  and  justly 
said,  "  The  boy  is  discharged  without  a  stain  on  his 
character,  and  I  am  very  sorry  for  what  has  hap- 
pened." The  French  society  for  the  defence  ot 
accused  children  was  established  to  assist  in  cases  01 
this  kind,  as  well  as  in  cases  where  the  children  are 
really  guilty.  Societies  of  a  similar  kind  exist  in 
Belgium,  and  are  doing  equally  good  work. 

According  to  a  report  presented  to  the  Fourth 
International  Congress  of  Criminal  Anthropology  by 
M.  Thiry,  Professor  of  Criminal  Law  in  the  University 
of  Liege,  the  greatest  care  is  taken  to  see  that  all  the 
circumstances  relating  to  an  incriminated  juvenile 
offender  are  placed  before  the  magistrate.  Before 
any  offender  under  the  age  of  sixteen  is  brought 
before  a  magistrate  a  circular  mentioning  the  facts  01 
the  case,  the  name  and  residence  of  the  child  and 
his  parents,  is  sent  to  two  committees  for  the  protec- 
tion of  children.     One  of  these  is  a  committee  for 


ADMOMTION.  1 85 

assisting  juveniles,  and  another  is  a  committee  for 
the  defence  of  children  tried  before  the  criminal 
courts.  These  committees  make  all  possible  inquiries 
into  the  individual  and  social  circumstances  of  the 
offender.  When  the  trial  comes  on  the  committees 
appear  before  the  magistrate.  The  juvenile  and  his 
parents  are  also  present.  When  the  case  has  been 
heard  the  magistrate  and  the  committees  take 
counsel  together  as  to  the  best  means  of  dealing  with 
the  offender.  A  system  of  a  somewhat  similar 
character  prevails  in  the  state  of  Michigan.  But  the 
duties  of  inquiring  into  the  antecedents  of  the  offender 
are  entrusted  to  an  official  known  as  a  county  agent. 
According  to  Mr.  C.  D.  Randall,  in  the  Ai)ierican 
JouTnal  of  Sociology,  one  of  these  agents  exists  in 
each  county.  "  Their  duties  relate  to  both  dependent 
and  delinquent  children.  When  complaint  is  entered 
against  any  boy  under  sixteen  years,  or  any  girl  under 
seventeen  years,  for  any  offence  not  punishable  by 
imprisonment  for  life,  the  court  is  required  to  notify 
the  county  agent,  who  attends  the  court  and  advises 
the  judge  as  to  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  child 
after  learning  the  facts.  This  consultation  in  the 
interest  of  the  child  often  leads,  especially  in  case  of 
first  offences,  to  their  return  to  their  parents  or  sus- 
pension of  sentence.  If  the  opinion  is  that  the  child 
needs  reformatory  treatment  it  is  sent  to  one  of  the 
reform  schools." 

The  officials  of  the  school  boards  are  the  nearest 
equivalents  in  Great  Britain  to  the  county  agents  in 
the  United  States.  According  to  Mr.  Stewart,  the 
stipendiary  magistrate  for  Liverpool  (in  a  letter  ad- 


1 86  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

dressed  to  the  Times  newspaper,  June  27,  1895), 
these  officials  are  of  the  utmost  value  in  dealing  with 
juvenile  offenders  in  that  great  city.  "  Industrial 
schools,"  he  says,  "  are  voluntary  institutions  ;  their 
authorities  have  the  right,  and  exercise  it  even  when 
they  have  vacancies,  to  decline  to  receive  a  child 
committed  by  the  courts.  A  remand  is  necessary  in  j 
the  vast  majority  of  cases  in  order  that  a  suitable 
school  ready  and  willing  to  receive  the  child  may  be 
found,  and  in  many  cases  in  order  that  full  inquiry 
may  be  made  as  to  the  surroundings  and  history  of 
each  child,  so  that  the  court  may  be  satisfied  that  it  is 
a  fit  subject  for  industrial  school  discipline.  In  Liver- 
pool the  necessary  inquiries  are  made  by  the  officials 
of  the  School  Board,  which  body  has  contracts  with 
various  indus'trial  schools  for  the  reception  on  specified 
terms  of  children  committed  through  their  agency, 
I  have  never  yet  found  the  School  Board  refuse  to 
adopt  a  case  which  I  have  recommended  to  them,  and 
their  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  children  of  this 
city  and  their  surroundings  is  of  the  greatest  possible 
service  to  the  bench  in  dealing  with  such  cases." 
Inquiries  of  the  character  just  described  undoubtedly 
tend  to  diminish  the  number  of  inappropriate  sen- 
tences. If  these  inquiries  were  universal,  and  consti- 
tuted part  of  a  properly  organised  system  of  dealing 
with  all  young  offenders,  they  would  be  productive  of 
many  beneficial  results.  The  Summary  Jurisdiction 
Act  of  1879,  as  well  as  the  Probation  of  First  Offen- 
ders Act,  contemplates  the  necessity  for  an  inquiry 
into  the  character  and  antecedents  of  the  young 
offender.     But  these  Acts  provide  no  machinery  for 


ADMONITION.  1 8/ 

carrying  out  these  inquiries.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
task  often  falls  upon  the  police,  but  as  the  police  are 
bound  to  appear  as  prosecutors  it  is  work  which  can 
be  better  done  by  agencies  such  as  exist  in  Belgium 
and  the  United  States. 

Probably  no  tribunals  in  the  world  are  so  wel 
adapted  for  dealing  effectively  with  young  offenders 
as  the  English  criminal  courts.  This  arises  from  the 
fact  that  the  English  criminal  law  allows  very  wide 
powers  of  discretion  to  the  magistrates  and  judges. 
In  many  of  the  continental  penal  codes  a  maximum 
and  a  minimum  amount  of  punishment  is  attached  to 
each  offence,  and  in  this  manner  the  discretion  of  the 
judges  is  limited.  According  to  the  German  penal 
code  a  case  of  serious  theft  may  be  punished 
by  a  maximum  of  ten  years'  imprisonment,  but  it 
must  be  punished  by  a  minimum  of  three  months. 
The  practice  of  fixing  a  maximum  and  minimum 
punishment  to  criminal  offences  dates  to  a  large 
extent  from  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  necessi- 
tated by  the  severity  of  the  criminal  law  and  the 
capricious  manner  in  which  it  was  often  administered. 
In  England  the  criminal  law  was  perhaps  more 
barbarous  in  its  provisions,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  administered  was  probably  more  severe  than 
was  the  case  on  the  Continent,  but  the  alterations 
which  our  penal  statutes  have  undergone  in  the 
present  century  have  not  been  in  the  direction  of 
interfering  with  the  almost  unlimited  discretion  of 
the  courts.  In  fact  it  may  be  said  that,  except  in 
the  case  of  a  conviction  for  murder,  the  choice  of 
sentence    residing    in    the    criminal    courts   of    this 


1 88  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

country  is  of  the  widest  possible  description.  Of 
course  the  freedom  allowed  to  criminal  courts  entails 
corresponding  obligations  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  exercised,  and  at  no  time  are  these  obligations 
of  a  more  exacting  character  than  in  those  cases  in 
which  the  future  of  the  young  is  at  stake. 

These  observations  are  preliminary  to  a  more  de- 
tailed examination  of  the  three  fundamental  methods 
of  dealing  with  the  youthful  offender  to  which  refer- 
ence has  already  been  made.  As  the  admonitory 
method  in  its  several  forms  is  the  mildest,  let  us 
consider  it  first.  In  recent  years  this  method  has 
attracted  a  considerable  amount  of  attention,  and 
has  succeeded  in  forcing  itself  into  a  somewhat 
prominent  position.  The  growing  conviction  of  the 
futility  of  short  sentences  of  imprisonment  has  un- 
doubtedly had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  prominence 
which  the  admonitory  method  has  acquired  within 
the  last  few  years.  The  Belgian  law  of  conditional 
condemnation  was  recommended  to  the  favourable 
consideration  of  Parliament  expressly  on  this  ground. 
It  is  mainly  on  this  account  that  it  has  been  advocated 
by  Berenger  in  France,  by  von  Liszt  in  Germany,  by 
Alimena  in  Italy,  by  Prins  in  Belgium.  As  far  as 
positive  law  is  concerned  the  practice  of  merely 
admonishing  an  offender  is  a  practice  which  was 
well  known  to  antiquity.  It  is  an  established  maxim 
of  Roman  jurisprudence  that  the  law  shall  warn 
before  it  strikes.  Moneat  lex  antequain  feriat.  In 
Canon  law  the  same  principle  is  recognised  when  it  is 
laid  down  that  an  offender  is  to  be  three  times 
admonished.     It  is  a  principle  which  existed  in  the 


ADMONITION.  1 89 

old  penal  codes  of  France^  and  it  is  now  in  operation 
in  England,  in  Russia,  in  ftaly,  in  some  of  the  Swiss 
cantons,  and  in  several  of  the  German  states. 

One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  a  mere  admonition  as 
it  is  practised  in  England,  under  the  Summary  Jurisdic- 
tion Act  of  1879,  is  that  it  saves  the  juvenile  offender 
from  the  brand  of  a  conviction.  In  many  offences 
of  a  trivial  character  it  is  most  important  that  the 
court  should  not  proceed  to  a  conviction,  inasmuch 
as  a  conviction,  even  if  not  accompanied  by  imprison- 
ment, is  often  a  serious  impediment  to  the  future 
career  of  the  young.  "  I  beg  leave  to  point  out," 
says  a  very  experienced  magistrate,  "that  a  serious 
objection  to  the  Probation  of  First  Offenders  Act, 
passed  in  1887,  is  that  its  application  necessarily 
involves  a  conviction,  which,  in  the  case  of  persons 
charged  for  the  first  time  with  offences  of  a  trifling 
nature,  is  the  very  thing  it  seems  so  desirable  to 
avoid,  inasmuch  as  a  conviction,  especially  for  an 
offence  imputing  dishonesty,  inflicts  an  indelible  stain 
upon  the  accused  person,  and  may  be  a  serious 
obstacle  to  future  success  in  life."  It  is  to  be 
recollected  that  offences  involving  the  charge  of 
dishonesty  are  often  the  result  of  immaturity.  They 
are  not  a  product  of  any  deep-seated  criminal 
propensities:  they  represent  a  transitory  phase  of 
mental  and  moral  development,  and  the  desire  to  com- 
mit them  quite  disappears  when  maturity  is  attained. 
If  a  child  is  under  healthy  and  normal  home  sur- 
roundings it  is  usually  wiser  in  such  circumstances 
to  refrain  from  convicting  and  to  regard  the  ends  of 
justice  as  satisfied  by  resorting  to  admonition  alone. 
14 


190  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

When  an  admonition  is  not  considered  sufficient 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  case  it  may  be  dealt 
with  by  the  method  of  conditional  release,  or  con- 
ditional condemnation  as  it  is  usually  called  on  the 
Continent.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  this 
method  of  dealing  with  offenders  is  somewhat  more 
severe,  inasmuch  as  it  involves  a  conviction.  But  as  a 
court  of  justice  may  sometimes  consider  it  necessary 
to  mark  its  disapproval  of  criminal  conduct  by  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  admonition,  and  is'  yet 
reluctant  to  pass  a  sentence  of  imprisonment,  it  is 
exceedingly  useful  to  have  the  intermediate  penalty 
of  conditional  release.  The  method  of  conditional 
release  was  first  introduced  in  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts. According  to  the  Massachusetts  system 
the  juvenile  offender,  after  being  convicted  and 
admonished,  is  placed  in  charge  of  an  official  who 
is  called  a  probation  officer,  and  the  sentence  which 
is  passed  upon  him  is  called  a  sentence  of  probation. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  probation  officer  during  the  time 
that  the  juvenile  is  under  his  surveillance  to  watch 
over  his  conduct,  and  if  it  is  unsatisfactory  to  report 
the  circumstances  to  the  court.  In  this  event  other 
and  more  stringent  measures  are  taken,  such  as 
sending  the  offender  to  an  industrial  school,  or  in 
extreme  cases  committing  him  to  prison.  As  far  as 
concerns  the  treatment  of  juveniles,  one  of  the  great 
advantages  of  the  Massachusetts  system  is  the 
existence  of  the  probation  officer.  Owing  to  the 
existence  of  this  officer  large  numbers  of  children  who 
would  otherwise  be  committed  to  industrial  or  reforma- 
tory schools  are  enabled  to  remain  at  home  with  their 


ADMONITION.  I9I 

parents.  The  sentence  of  probation,  whilst  it  formally 
places  the  child  under  the  control  of  the  probation 
officer,  allows  him  at  the  same  time  to  return  to  his 
home  and  family.  In  this  way  parental  authority 
is  respected  and  parental  responsibility  is  maintained. 
The  parent,  it  is  true,  is  advised  and  watched  over 
by  the  probation  officer,  and  in  cases  where  the 
parents  are  as  much  to  blame  as  the  children  the 
child  is  protected  against  the  weakness  or  unworthi- 
ness  of  the  parent.  When  the  probation  system 
takes  the  form  of  restoring  the  child  to  the  parent 
under  the  supervision  of  the  probation  officer,  family 
life  is  maintained,  family  affection  is  preserved,  the 
child  is  not  removed  from  the  ordinary  conditions  of 
social  existence  which  are  such  an  important  prepara- 
tion for  its  future  welfare  in  the  world.  The  probation 
system,  as  it  is  practised  in  the  United  States,  is  much 
more  economical  as  well  as  more  natural  than  the 
system  which  exists  in  England.  In  England  many 
juvenile  offenders  who  might  easily  be  entrusted  to 
the  care  of  their  parents  if  a  proper  system  of  super- 
vision existed,  must,  as  matters  stand  at  present, 
be  sent  to  industrial  schools.  This  involves  con- 
siderable expense.  Within  the  last  twenty  years 
the  expenditure  on  industrial  schools  has  been 
steadily  on  the  increase.  Under  the  probation 
system  as  it  is  worked  in  the  United  States  it  is 
probable  that  expenditure  would  diminish  instead 
of  increasing. 

The  English  law  of  1887  relating  to  conditional 
release  operates  without  the  mediation  of  a  probation 
officer.     According  to  the  English  statute,  when  an 


192  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

offender  is  convicted  of  an  offence  which  is  not 
punishable  with  more  than  two  years'  imprisonment, 
the  judge  or  magistrate,  on  taking  all  the  circum- 
stances ot  the  case  into  account,  may  release  the 
prisoner  on  condition  that  he  binds  himself  to  come 
up  for  judgment  when  called  upon.  The  circum- 
stances which  the  court  is  expected  to  take  into 
consideration  are  the  trivial  nature  of  the  offence, 
the  conditions  under  which  it  was  committed,  and 
the  youth  and  antecedents  of  the  offender.  If  these 
circumstances  are  of  an  extenuating  character  it  is 
within  the  power  of  the  judge  or  justice,  instead  of 
inflicting  a  sentence  of  imprisonment,  to  liberate  the 
culprit  on  his  own  recognisances,  with  or  without 
sureties,  and  if  need  be  to  condemn  him  to  pay  the 
costs  of  the  prosecution  in  whole  or  in  part.  The 
law  of  conditional  release  as  it  exists  in  Belgium 
differs  somewhat  both  from  the  English  and  American 
statutes.  The  Belgian  law  is  narrower  in  its  operation 
inasmuch  as  it  only  affects  offenders  liable  to  a 
maximum  of  six  months'  imprisonment,  whereas  the 
English  law  includes  offenders  liable  to  a  maximum 
of  two  years.  According  to  the  Belgian  law,  if  an 
offender  does  not  commit  a  fresh  offence  within  the 
next  five  years  from  the  date  of  his  conditional 
release,  the  conditional  sentence  passed  upon  him 
cannot  be  proceeded  with.  If,  on  the  contrary,  he 
commits  a  fresh  breach  of  the  criminal  law  within 
the  specified  period  he  has  to  undergo  the  conditional 
sentence  as  well  as  the  fresh  sentence  for  the  new 
offence.  Conditional  release  has  become  a  part  of  the 
penal  institutions  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and 


ADMONITION.  1 93 

an  Act,  based  on  the  lines  of  the  EngHsh  and  Belgian 
laws,  was  passed  in  the  French  Chambers  in  1891. 
In  Germany  the  principle  of  conditional  release  is 
being  gradually  introduced.  It  now  exists  in  the 
form  of  royal  pardon  for  juveniles  in  Prussia,  Saxony, 
and  some  of  the  smaller  German  states.^ 

Belgium  is  the  only  European  country  which  has 
extensively  resorted  to  the  system  of  conditional 
release.  According  to  the  Belgian  criminal  returns 
for.  the  year  1892,  rather  more  than  10  per  cent,  of 
the  offenders  convicted  before  the  various  Belgian 
tribunals  since  the  law  of  conditional  condemnation 
came  mto  operation  were  conditionally  released.  As 
a  testimony  to  the  success  of  the  new  law  it  is  stated 
that  only  about  3  per  cent,  of  those  liberated 
offenders  have  so  far  been  re-convicted.  Results  of 
this  description  are  no  doubt  highly  encouraging, 
and  as  far  as  they  extend  would  seem  to  show  that 
a  sentence  of  imprisonment  hanging  over  the  head 
of  an  offender,  but  yet  remaining  unexecuted  during 
good  behaviour,  is  of  a  more  deterrent  character  than 
a  sentence  of  imprisonment  which  is  actually  carried 
into  effect.  As  far  as  first  offenders  are  concerned 
this  result  is  intrinsically  probable.  A  first  offender 
who  has  had  no  experience  of  the  interior  of  a  prison 
regards  imprisonment  with  an  amount  of  dread  and 
apprehension  which  usually  vanishes  once  he  has 
been  inside  prison  walls  and  subjected  to  the  routine 
of  prison  life.  It  is  probable  that  this  feeling  of 
dread  and  apprehension  is  more  vividly  before  him 

'  "  Der  MiUeilung  der  Internationalen  Kriminalistischen  Verei- 
nigung."     Funfter  Band,  1896. 


194  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

when  he  recollects  that  he  has  been  sentenced  to  a 
term  of  imprisonment,  that  the  punishment  is  merely 
suspended  and  will  become  a  reality  if  he  again 
commits  the  slightest  offence.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  law  of  conditional 
liberation  has  as  yet  been  in  operation  for  a  very 
short  period  of  time,  as  far  as  Belgium  is  concerned, 
and  it  is  therefore  possible  that  the  exceedingly 
favourable  results  which  now  appear  to  flow  from 
its  operation  may  have  to  some  extent  to  be  dis- 
counted in  the  light  of  additional  and  more  prolonged 
experience.  As  a  matter  of  fact  additional  experience 
of  almost  all  new  methods  of  dealing  with  criminal 
offenders  by  merely  repressive  measures  has  generally 
been  in  the  direction  of  showing  that  the  originators 
of  these  methods  based  too  high  expectations  on 
their  prospective  efficiency,  and  it  is  possible  that 
the  hopes  at  present  resting  on  the  recorded  results 
of  the  system  of  conditional  release  may  have  to 
be  somewhat  modified  by  the  lessons  of  a  fuller 
experience. 


CHAPTER   X. 
F/A7.VG. 

Value  of  fining — Increase  of  fining — Objection  to  fining  juveniles 
— Imprisonment  as  an  alternative  to  fining — Circumstances  to 
be  considered  in  fining  juveniles — Payment  of  the  fine  by 
instalments — Value  of  this  method  in  preventing  imprisomnent 
— Hardships  of  existing  system  of  fining — Remedies  for  exist- 
ing system — Proposals  of  the  Scotch  committee — Illustration 
of  hardships  of  existing  system — Increased  elasticity  of  the 
criminal  law  would  reduce  the  prison  population  and  diminish 
expenditure  on  crime — Compulsory  labour  without  imprison- 
ment— This  principle  in  operation  in  day  industrial  schools. 

Many  offences  committed  by  juveniles  are  of  such  a 
character  or  are  committed  under  such  circumstances 
that  it  is  impossible  to  deal  with  them  by  a  resort  to 
admonition  in  any  of  its  forms,  A  mere  admonition 
or  a  sentence  of  conditional  discharge  is  in  some 
cases  an  inadequate  penalty,  or  is  at  least  considered 
to  be  an  inadequate  penalty,  for  certain  kinds  of 
offences  committed  by  juvenile  offenders.  When 
such  circumstances  arise  the  requirements  of  justice 
are  satisfied  and  the  protection  of  the  public  is  often 
amply  assured  by  the  imposition  of  a  fine.  Of  all 
forms  of  punishment  fining  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
best  and  most  effective.  It  is  almost  the  only  form  of 
punishment  which  is  not  irremediable.    Where  corporal 

195 


196  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

punishment  is  resorted  to,  or  where  a  sentence  of 
imprisonment  is  imposed,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
repair  the  injury  to  the  individual  if  it  is  afterwards 
discovered  that  he  has  been  unjustly  convicted.  But 
where  a  fine  is  inflicted  it  is  easy  to  make  reparation 
when  there  is  a  miscarriage  of  justice  by  restoring 
the  amount.  Fining  is  a  mode  of  punishment  which 
might  be  made  even  more  effective  as  an  instrument 
of  social  defence  if  the  proceeds  of  the  fine  were  more 
largely  utilised  as  a  means  of  reparation  to  the  suf- 
ferers from  the  crime.  Certain  practical  difficulties 
are  involved  in  the  adoption  of  such  a  principle  on 
an  extended  scale.  Still  these  difficulties  are  not 
insuperable,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  in  the  near 
future  some  sort  of  reparation  to  the  victims  will  form 
part  of  the  criminal  law  in  all  civilised  communities. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  observe  that  the  practice  of 
fining  is  being  more  and  more  used  as  a  substitute 
for  imprisonment.  It  is  largely  owing  to  the  fact 
that  fining  is  being  increasingly  substituted  for  im- 
prisonment that  the  permanent  prison  population 
in  English  jails  has  decreased  so  considerably  in 
recent  years.  I  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  call 
attention  to  the  significance  of  this  fact,  and  it  is 
satisfactory  to  note  that  it  is  at  last  recognised  in  the 
criminal  returns  published  in  1895.  According  to  these 
returns,  in  the  year  1882-3  in  every  thousand  convic- 
tions for  indictable  offences  tried  before  courts  of 
summary  jurisdiction  226  of  the  offenders  were  fined. 
In  1893  the  number  of  offenders  fined  amounted  to 
270  per  thousand.  In  other  words,  the  practice  of 
fining  for  the  class  of  offences  which  has  just  been 


FINING.  igy 

mentioned  has  increased  considerably  in  ten  years. 
An  increased  tendency  to  resort  to  fining  instead 
of  imprisonment  is  observable  in  criminal  courts 
of  all  descriptions  ;  it  constitutes  a  part  of  the 
general  tendency  to  minimise  punishment  and  to 
confine  it  within  the  limits  absolutely  necessary  to 
secure  the  public  safety. 

One  of  the  objections  sometimes  raised  to  the  use 
of  fining  as  a  method  of  dealing  with  the  delinquent 
juvenile  population  is  the  circumstance  that  penalties 
of  a  pecuniary  character  fall  upon  the  parent  rather 
than  the  child.     This  is  to  a  certain  extent  the  case, 
but  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  in  all  forms  of  punish- 
ment a  considerable  portion  of  the  penalty  falls  upon 
others  besides  the  person  who  has  directly  incurred 
it.     If  the  father  of  a  family  is  sentenced  to  a  period 
of  imprisonment  the  punishment  often  falls  as  severely 
upon  his  innocent  wife  and  children  as  it  does  upon 
himself.     They  participate  in  his  disgrace  and  have 
to  bear  a  part  of  the  burden  of  it.     In  addition  to  this 
they  have  to  endure  the  material  discomfort  which 
accompanies   the  loss  of  the   breadwinner   from   the 
home.     In  many  cases  they  become  absolutely  help- 
less and  destitute,  and  pass  through  a  greater  amount 
of  real  privation  than  the  delinquent  himself.     "  We 
are  members  one  of  another,"  and  it  is  impossible  to 
object  to  the  fining  of  juveniles  on  the  ground  that  a 
part  of  the  punishment  has  to  be  borne  by  the  parent. 
Imprisonment  is  the  usual  alternative  to  fining,  and 
it  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  imprisonment  of  their 
children    is   more    acutely    felt    by   the    majority   of 
parents  than  the  parting  with  a  certain  sum  of  money 


198  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

in  payment  of  a  fine.  During  the  time  the  sentence 
of  imprisonment  lasts  the  parent  passes  through  all 
the  mental  suffering  and  anxiety  which  arise  from 
the  knowledge  that  his  child  is  in  prison.  It  is  true 
the  mental  suffering  and  anxiety  are  not  accompanied 
by  the  material  loss  of  so  many  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence.  But  in  most  instances  parents  would  far  rather 
endure  this  material  loss  than  have  their  children 
subjected  to  the  degradations  of  prison  life  and  the 
stain  upon  the  character  which  imprisonment  in- 
volves. The  objection  to  fining  is  an  objection  which 
applies  with  equal,  if  not  greater,  force  to  imprison- 
ment. In  fact,  it  is  an  objection  which  applies  to 
punishment  of  all  kinds.  There  are  very  few  people 
in  the  world  who  are  not  bound  to  others  by  the  ties 
of  home,  kinship,  or  affection,  and  wherever  these  ties 
exist  the  innocent  suffer  with  the  guilty,  and  in  many 
cases  more  than  the  guilty. 

When  fining  is  resorted  to  as  a  means  of  dealing 
with  juvenile  offenders  all  the  special  circumstances 
arising  from  the  fact  that  the  delinquent  is  a  juvenile 
require  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  It  is  obvious,^ 
in  the  first  place,  that  weight  should  be  given  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  offender  is  in  a  condition  of 
immaturity,  and  is  not  to  be  treated  with  the  same 
severity  as  if  he  were  an  adult.  Again  it  has  to  be 
remembered  that  the  amount  of  the  fine  has  in  most 
instances  to  be  paid  by  the  parent,  and  should  to 
some  extent  be  measured  by  the  earning  capacity  of 
the  parent,  and  the  calls  which  are  made  upon  his 
resources.  Other  things  being  equal,  a  parent  in 
receipt  of  thirty  shillings  a  week  is  not  so  able  to  pay 


FINING.  199 

a  fine  as  a  parent  in  receipt  of  two  pounds  a  week. 
And  two  parents  in  receipt  of  the  same  amount  of 
weekly  wages  are  in  a  very  unequal  financial  position 
if  the  one  is  the  father  of  a  family  of  six  children  and 
the  other  has  only  two  children.  These  are  some 
instances  of  the  circumstances  necessary  to  be  taken 
account  of  in  apportioning  the  amount  of  a  fine.  It 
is  of  course  impossible  to  lay  down  a  rule  applicable 
to  all  cases,  inasmuch  as  no  two  cases  are  exactly 
alike.  At  the  same  time  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
the  fact  of  an  offender  being  a  juvenile  should  have 
the  effect  of  considerably  reducing  the  proportions  of 
the  fine  and  facilitating  the  conditions  under  which  it 
has  to  be  paid. 

One  of  the  simplest  ways  of  rendering  the  payment 
of  a  fine  less  burdensome  is  to  accept  the  amount  in 
instalments.  Many  parents  who  are  distressed  at 
the  prospect  of  their  children  going  to  prison  are  at 
present  obliged  to  let  them  go  because  the  fine  which 
has  been  imposed  as  an  alternative  will  not  be 
accepted  in  instalments.  There  are  no  doubt  certain 
practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  payment 
of  fines  by  instalments,  and  when  the  person  w^ho 
has  to  pay  the  fine  is  the  offender  himself  these  diflfi- 
culties  are  sometimes  of  an  insuperable  character. 
But  where  the  fine  has  to  be  paid  not  by  the  offender 
himself,,  but  by  his  parents,  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  are  at  once  altered  and  simplified,  and  it  ought 
not  to  be  a  matter  of  great  practical  difficulty  to 
devise  arrangements  calculated  to  meet  these  circum- 
stances. It  is  possible,  for  example,  to  utilise  the 
Post  Office  as  a  receiving  place  for  fines  requiring 


200  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

to  be  paid  by  instalments.  Almost  all  the 
machinery  is  already  in  existence  at  the  Post 
Office  for  doing  work  of  this  character,  and  it 
would  be  very  much  simpler  for  the  class  of  people 
who  are  under  the  necessity  of  paying  fines  by  instal- 
ments to  pay  them  at  an  office  close  to  their  doors 
than  to  have  to  transmit  them  to  a  distant  police- 
court. 

Cases  are  frequently  coming  under  one's  per- 
sonal observation  of  men  and  women  who  attribute 
their  descent  to  a  life  of  habitual  crime  to  the  fact 
that  their  fathers  or  mothers  were  unable  to  pay 
the  fine  arising  out  of  their  conviction  for  a  first 
offence.  The  alternative  of  imprisonment  had  to  be 
accepted  and  endured.  As  a  general  rule  imprison- 
ment, no  matter  how  mild  it  is  made,  is  a  demoral- 
ising experience.  It  is  the  severest  blow  which  can 
possibly  be  aimed  at  a  young  person's  self-respect, 
and  if  it  is  inflicted  at  a  time  when  the  mind  is 
peculiarly  sensitive  to  the  opinion  of  the  world,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  it  leads  to  disastrous  results  of  a 
permanent  kind.  To  have  been  in  prison  is  a  stigma 
of  which  the  erring  juvenile  can  never  get  rid.  This 
he  dimly  and  even  sometimes  clearly  apprehends. 
It  often  has  the  effect  of  making  him  seek  the  society 
and  companionship  of  others  who  have  been  in  a 
similar  plight.  Among  them  he  will  not  be  looked 
down  upon  or  upbraided,  among  them  accordingly  his 
lot  is  henceforth  cast,  and  the  career  of  an  habitual 
criminal  is  begun.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  among  the 
combination  of  conditions  which  tend  to  produce  the 
habitual  criminal  a  first  experience  of  prison  occupies 


FINING.  20 1 

a  considerable  place.  In  many  cases  this  first  expe- 
rience might  be  avoided  as  far  as  juveniles  are  con- 
cerned if  some  method  of  paying  fines  by  instalments 
were  in  practical  operation  on  lines  which  can  be 
easily  worked  and  understood  by  the  class  of  people 
who  have  to  pay  these  fines. 

Another  useful  method  of  dealing  with  juveniles, 
and  in  fact  with  adults  as  well,  is  to  combine  fining 
with  imprisonment.  According  to  the  existing  pro- 
visions of  the  criminal  law  an  offender  who  is  fined, 
let  us  say  twenty  shillings,  or  twenty  days'  imprison- 
ment, must  pay  the  whole  amount  of  the  fine,  even 
if  he  has  spent  five,  ten,  or  fifteen  days  of  the  alterna- 
tive sentence  in  prison.  It  very  often  happens  that 
a  convicted  man  or  his  family  is  unable  to  collect  the 
money  for  the  fine  till  he  has  spent  a  certain  time  in 
prison.  In  cases  of  this  kind  the  sentence,  instead  of 
being  a  penalty  of  twenty  days  or  twenty  shillings, 
becomes  a  sentence  of  ten  or  fifteen  days'  imprisoment 
and  a  fine  of  twenty  shillings  in  addition.  In  other 
words,  the  severity  of  the  sentence  is  increased,  as 
the  case  may  be,  one-quarter,  one-half,  or  even  three- 
quarters,  owing  to  the  temporary  poverty  of  the 
offender.  In  some  cases  it  may  be  increased  even 
more,  but  in  every  case  it  is  increased  when  a  portion 
of  the  alternative  sentence  of  imprisonment  has  been 
served  before  the  fine  is  paid.  When  a  magistrate 
passes  a  sentence  of  so  many  shillings  fine  or  in 
default  so  many  days'  imprisonment,  it  is  not  his 
intention  that  the  convicted  person  should  be  im-- 
prisoned  part  of  the  time  and  likewise  fined  the  full 
amount.     But  under  existing  statutes  the  magistrate 


202  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

has  no  option.  He  is  powerless  to  prevent  a  mode 
of  punishment  from  being  inflicted  which  he  did  not 
decree,  and  which  is  more  severe  than  the  punishment 
he  did  decree. 

It  would  be  easy  to  remedy  such  an   anomaly  in 
the  criminal  law.     The  amount  of  imprisonment  en- 
dured should  count  towards  the  reduction  of  the  fine. 
If  this  simple  expedient  were  adopted  a  man  who  is 
sentenced  to  a  fine  of  twenty  shillings  or  twenty  days' 
imprisonment  would  have  the  period  of  detention  re- 
duced by  one-half  on  payment  of  one-half  of  the  fine. 
Assuming   that    the    punitive    equivalent   of   twenty 
shillings    is    twenty    days'    imprisonment,  it   is    only 
reasonable  and  just  that  the  payment  of  ten  shillings 
should  diminish  the  duration  of  imprisonment  by  ten 
days.      This    was    the   conclusion   arrived   at    by   a 
departmental   committee   appointed   by   Sir   George 
Trevelyan,  when  Secretary  of  State  for  Scotland,  to 
inquire  into  the  best  means  of  dealing  with  habitual 
delinquents.     The   report    of    the    committee    states 
that    "  prisoners    committed   to  prison   in  default    of 
payment  of  a  fine  should  be  permitted  to  work  out 
their  sentences  by  a  combination  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment.    It  should  not  be  necessary  for  them,  having 
worked  out  half  their  term  of  imprisonment,  to  re- 
main in  prison  for  the  full  term  unless  they  pay  the 
entire  fine.     They  should  be  liberated  on  any  day  of 
their   imprisonment  on  payment  of  such  proportion 
of  their  fines  as  the  term  of  imprisonment  still  to  be 
undergone  bears  to  the  entire  sentence."     "We  are 
informed,"  continues  the  committee,  "  that  this  system 
was  at  one  time  prevalent  in   Scotland,  but  it  was 


FINhVG.  203 

given  up  because  it  was  found  to  be  illegal.  So 
far  as  the  committee  is  concerned,  it  is  but  fair  to 
give  the  entire  credit  of  the  suggestion  to  Mr.  Napier, 
governor  of  Greenock  prison." 

As  an  illustration  of  the  hardships  of  the  existing 
law  the  committee  mention  the  case  of  a  woman 
who  was  sent  to  Greenock  prison  for  thirty  days  in 
default  of  payment  of  a  fine  of  forty  shillings.  After 
she  had  been  twenty-one  days  in  prison  her  husband 
died.  Her  husband  belonged  to  a  burial  society. 
In  order  to  procure  her  liberation  her  friends  borrowed 
forty  shillings  on  the  security  of  the  sum  she  was 
entitled  to  from  the  benefit  society,  and  the  fine  was 
paid.  "  Had  that  woman  when  convicted,"  says  the 
report,  "  possessed  forty  shillings  she  would  not  have 
gone  to  prison  at  all,  and  would  probably  have  ex- 
perienced a  more  improving  and  refining  influence  in 
ministering  to  the  wants  of  her  dying  husband.  But 
being  moneyless  at  the  time  of  her  conviction,  she 
had  ultimately  to  expiate  her  offence  by  payment  of 
the  full  fine  imposed,  and  three  weeks'  imprisonment 
into  the  bargain.  Now  the  law  in  imposing  a  fine  as 
a  penalty  for  an  offence,  and  prescribing  imprison- 
ment only  in  default  of  payment,  evidently  meant  to 
mitigate  and  not  to  aggravate  the  punishment." 

The  Scotch  committee,  with  the  thoroughness 
which  characterised  all  their  proceedings,  put  their 
suggestions  to  a  practical  test.  Mr.  Napier  received 
five  pounds,  with  instructions  to  apply  it  in  illustra- 
tion of  his  scheme.  The  following  are  the  cases  with 
which  he  dealt  : — "  W.  J.  C,  a  case  of  assault,  com- 
mitted for  five  days  in  default  of  payment  of  seven 


204  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

shillings  and  sixpence.  After  being  three  days  in 
prison  succeeded  in  raising  three  shillings,  and  the 
balance  of  four-and-sixpence  being  provided  out  of 
the  fund,  he  was  liberated,  and  two  days  of  his 
imprisonment  was  saved.  J.  S.,  a  case  of  assault, 
committed  for  ten  days  in  default  of  payment  of  a 
fine  of  twenty  shillings.  After  five  days'  imprison- 
ment raised  ten  shillings,  and  the  balance  being  paid 
out  of  the  fund,  five  days'  imprisonment  was  remitted. 
E.  M.,  another  case  of  assault,  committed  for  twenty 
days  in  default  of  payment  of  a  fine  of  forty  shillings. 
After  five  days'  imprisonment  raised  thirty  shillings, 
and  the  balance  being  paid  out  of  the  fund,  fifteen 
days'  imprisonment  was  remitted.  At  a  cost,  there- 
fore, of  twenty-four  shillings  and  sixpence  to  the 
fund,  forty-three  shillings  was  collected  in  the  shape 
of  fines  which  would  never  otherwise  have  been  sot, 
and  the  State  was  saved  twenty-two  days'  main- 
tenance of  a  prisoner  in  jail.  Mr.  Napier  thought 
that  it  would  be  waste  of  money  to  continue  the 
experiment,  as  to  secure  it  full  justice  it  would  be 
requisite  that  the  system  should  be  generally  known. 
But  he  expressed  his  belief  that  if  it  were  known 
that  less  than  half  the  fine  imposed  would  be  accepted, 
a  large  number  of  prisoners,  probably  one-half,  would 
take  advantage  of  it." 

One  of  the  immediate  results  of  increasing  the 
elasticity  of  the  criminal  law  in  the  direction  of 
combining  a  fine  with  imprisonment  in  the  manner 
just  indicated,  would  be  to  reduce  the  proportions  of 
the  prison  population.  According  to  the  Scotch 
committee's    i-eport,   close    on    35    per   cent,    of  the 


FINING.  205 

prison  population  in  Scotland  are  incarcerated  be- 
cause of  inability  to  pay  in  full  the  fine  imposed 
upon  them.  If,  as  is  estimated,  one-half  of  these 
prisoners  took  advantage  of  a  provision  which  enabled 
them  to  reckon  imprisonment  as  wiping  out  a  part  of 
the  fine,  the  prison  population  would  be  diminished 
to  this  extent.  Inasmuch  as  each  prisoner  costs  the 
country  twenty-five  pounds  a  year  for  maintenance, 
a  decrease  of  the  prison  population  means  a  corre- 
sponding decrease  of  public  expenditure  on  penal 
establishments.  A  reduction  of  the  average  daily 
prison  population  to  the  extent  of  one  thousand 
ultimately  means  a  reduction  of  expenditure  on 
prisons  to  the  extent  of  twenty-five  thousand  pounds 
per  annum  or  thereabouts.  This  is  a  consideration 
not  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  estimating  the  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  adding  to  the  elasticity  of  our 
present  methods  of  imposing  and  collecting  fines. 
It  is  also  to  be  recollected  that  the  additional  fines 
collected,  if  the  system  here  advocated  were  in 
operation,  would  amount  to  a  very  considerable  sum. 
This  sum  would  also  go  towards  reducing  criminal 
expenditure. 

In  short,  the  proposal  to  combine  fining  with 
imprisonment  instead  of  merely  using  the  one  as 
the  alternative  of  the  other,  as  is  done  at  present, 
is  in  the  happy  position  of  possessing  a  maxi- 
mum of  advantages  with  an  almost  entire  absence 
of  corresponding  defects.  These  benefits  may 
be  summed  up  as  consisting  of  a  reduction  of 
expenditure  on  crime,  a  reduction  of  the  number 
of  people  shut  up  in  prisons,  a  rational  adjustment 
15 


206  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  substitutionary  penalties,  and  a  diminution  of 
punishment  unaccompanied  by  a  decrease  of  social 
security.  The  application  of  this  system  to  juvenile 
offenders  would  enable  many  poor  people  who  are 
unable  to  pay  the  full  penalty  imposed  upon  their 
children  to  shorten  their  detention  in  prison  by 
paying  a  part  of  the  fine.  In  this  way  the  law 
would  afford  a  legitimate  satisfaction  to  parental 
affection  and  solicitude  which  it  now  unmeaningly 
refuses  ;  it  would  afford  this  satisfaction  without  in 
any  way  compromising  the  public  interest. 

Compulsory  labour  without  imprisonment  is  not  an 
unknown  punishment  in  some  continental  countries. 
It  is  a  method  of  dealing  with  petty  offenders  which 
is  or  has  been  in  operation  in  France,  Italy,  some  of 
the  cantons  of  Switzerland,  and  several  of  the  German 
States. I  In  the  canton  of  Vaud  an  offender  who  is 
merely  fined  and  cannot  pay  the  amount  has  his 
name  put  upon  the  books  of  the  State  receiver  for 
employment  on  public  works.  A  notification  of 
this  fact  is  sent  to  the  surveyor  of  the  district,  and 
to  the  nearest  inspector  of  forests.  The  offender  is 
then  called  upon  to  work  at  the  maintenance  and 
construction  of  roads,  or  to  work  in  the  woods.  In 
this  manner  the  amount  of  the  fine  is  worked  off  at 
the  rate  of  from  three  to  six  francs  a  day  according 
to  the  man's  industry  and  the  value  of  his  labour. 
In  cases  where  the  offender  will  not  perform  the 
work  assigned  to  him,  the  fine  is  transformed  into 
a  sentence  of  imprisonment.     It  was  stated  by  M. 

•  "Zeitschrift  fiir  die  gesamte  Strafrechtswissenschaft."     Neunter 
Band,  pp.  764-70. 


FINING.  207 

Correvon,  one  of  the  Swiss  delegates  at  the  Inter- 
national Prison  Congress  held  at  Rome,  that  the 
operation  of  the  law  was  not  altogether  satisfactory. 
But  he  did  not  regard  the  difficulties  connected  with 
it  as  insurmountable.  It  is  easy  to  foresee  the 
obstacles  which  would  surround  the  working  of  a 
law  of  this  character  when  applied  to  adult  offenders. 
In  a  considerable  number  of  instances  the  sentence 
to  compulsory  labour  would  be  disregarded.  This 
would  at  once  involve  the  necessity  of  re-arresting 
the  offender  and  committing  him  to  prison  after  all. 
At  the  same  time  there  are  no  doubt  many  offenders 
to  whom  a  sentence  of  compulsory  labour  without 
imprisonment  would  be  quite  practicable.  Many 
offenders  could  get  sureties  who  would  bind  them- 
selves to  see  that  the  sentence  to  compulsory  labour 
was  not  ev^aded.  In  all  cases  where  sureties  were 
forthcoming  a  sentence  of  this  description  would  be 
likely  to  work  well,  even  if  applied  to  adult  offenders. 
But  it  would  undoubtedly  work  better  if  applied  to 
juveniles  living  under  the  parental  roof,  and  subject 
to  parental  supervision  and  control.  It  would  be 
distinctly  to  the  parent's  interest  to  take  care  that 
a  sentence  of  compulsory  labour  was  carried  into 
effect.  If  a  law  relating  to  compulsory  labour  were 
in  force,  the  parent  would  be  well  aware  that  unless 
this  law  was  complied  with  in  the  case  of  his  child, 
the  penal  alternative  would  be  fining  or  imprison- 
ment. Either  of  these  alternatives  is  more  severe 
than  compulsory  labour.  Compulsory  labour  would 
naturally  be  the  form  of  punishment  he  would  select 
for  his  child. 


208  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

Something  very  much  akin  to  the  principle  of 
compulsory  labour  is  already  in  existence  in  Great 
Britain,  in  the  day  industrial  school  system.  Most 
of  the  children  in  our  day  industrial  schools  are 
committed  to  these  institutions  by  the  magistrates. 
In  these  schools  the  children  are  detained  from  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  o'clock  at  night. 
According  to  the  reports  of  the  Inspector  of  Indus- 
trial Schools,  the  attendance  is  not  all  that  could  be 
wished.  At  the  Leeds  Day  Industrial  School,  for 
instance,  there  were  nineteen  cases  of  truancy  during 
the  year  ended  September,  1893.  On  the  day  of 
inspection  the  school  population  amounted  to  124 
boys  and  girls.  When  the  class  of  children  com- 
mitted to  day  industrial  schools,  and  the  homes  from 
which  they  come,  are  taken  into  consideration,  nine- 
teen cases  of  truancy  during  the  whole  year  in  a 
school  of  124  children  cannot  be  regarded  as  very 
high.  Of  these  schools  as  a  whole  the  inspector  says 
that  they  are  "  without  exception  going  on  well,  and 
do  really  good  useful  work  at  very  little  cost  to  the 
Treasury.  It  is  always  a  pleasure  to  go  into  these 
schools  and  to  see  the  order  apparent  everywhere  ; 
and  the  children  almost  invariably  look  bright  and 
cheerful."  If  compulsory  detention  and  compulsory 
labour  is  so  successful  when  applied  to  children  com- 
mitted to  day  industrial  schools,  there  is  considerable 
reason  to  believe  that  a  system  on  somewhat  similar 
lines  would  be  equally  successful  if  applied  to  children 
convicted  of  certain  kinds  of  petty  offences.  Children 
of  this  class  are,  as  a  rule,  the  product  of  large  cities, 
and  it  is  in  large  cities  that  some  form  of  compulsory 


FINING.  209 

labour  without  imprisonment  could  be  most  easily- 
put  in  force.  If  a  penalty  of  this  nature  became  a 
part  of  the  criminal  law,  and  was  fairly  successful  in 
its  operation,  it  would  possess  many  distinct  advan- 
tages. It  would  still  further  reduce  the  number  of 
children  who  are  at  present  committed  to  prison.  It 
would  be  an  alternative  to  imprisonment  in  cases 
where  the  parents  were  too  poor  to  pay  a  fine,  and 
the  penalty  would  fall  directly  on  the  offender. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CORPORAL  PUNISHMENT. 

Prevalence  of  corporal  punishment — The  punishment  of  death — 
The  death  penalty  in  the  case  of  juveniles— Flogging  and 
whipping — Whipping  in  continental  penal  codes — Whipping 
in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  Colonies — Balance  of 
international  opinion  hostile  to  whipping — Opinion  in  England 
on  corpoi-al  punishment — Opinion  in  Scotland — Whipping  as 
an  alternative  to  fining— Methods  of  inflicting  wliipping  in 
Scotland— Imprisonment  or  whipping  for  girls — Opinions 
adverse  to  whipping— Whipping  or  Imprisonment— Conclusion. 

Corporal  punishment  is  the  oldest  and  most  pri- 
mitive method  of  deahng  with  criminal  offenders, 
and  it  is  only  within  a  comparatively  recent  period 
that  it  ceased  to  be  the  principal  method  among 
modern  European  communities.  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  describe  in  detail  the  almost  infinite  variety 
of  ways  in  which  corporal  punishment  was  inflicted  ; 
in  fact,  some  of  these  punishments  were  of  such  a 
diabolical  character  that  it  is  revolting  even  to 
mention  them.  Any  one  wishing  to  draw  up  an 
indictment  against  humanity  will  find  material  for 
this  purpose  to  his  heart's  content  in  the  atrocious 
punishments  formerly  in  the  statute-book,  and  in  the 


aio 


CORPORAL   PUNISHMENT.  211 

still  more  atrocious  manner  in  which  these  punish- 
ments were  carried  into  effect  Death,  torture, 
branding,  mutilation,  flogging,  were  the  favourite 
methods  of  maintaining  such  social  security  as 
existed  in  the  olden  days.  The  European  conscience 
has  revolted  against  torture,  branding,  and  mutila- 
tion :  these  forms  of  punishment  have  disappeared, 
but  the  penalties  of  death  and  flogging  are  still 
regarded  as  essential  instruments  of  social  protection 
among  many  civilised  communities.  The  punish- 
ment of  death  is  still  retained  in  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  Russia,  Spain,  Great  Britian,  the  Colonies, 
and  in  most  parts  of  the  American  Union.  It  has 
been  abolished  in  Italy,  Holland,  and  in  the  states  of 
Michigan,  Rhode  Island,  Wisconsin,  and  Maine.  In 
Switzerland  it  is  a  punishment  which  is  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  various  cantons  ;  and  although  it  is 
not  formally  abolished,  no  capital  punishment  has 
been  inflicted  in  Belgium  since  1863,  nor  in  Finland 
since  1826. 

In  countries  where  the  death  penalty  forms  a  part 
of  the  criminal  law  the  tendency  is  to  confine  its 
operation  within  the  narrowest  possible  limits. 
Wilful  murder  is  almost  the  only  crime  for  which 
the  penalty  of  death  is  in  actual  operation,  and 
even  in  cases  of  wilful  murder  capital  executions  are 
slowly  diminishing.  Wherever  there  is  the  least 
justification  for  doing  so,  extenuating  circumstances 
are  admitted  either  during  the  trial  or  after  convic- 
tion as  a  ground  for  commuting  the  death  penalty  to 
a  sentence  of  imprisonment.  Immaturity  is  one  of 
these  extenuating  circumstances,  and  in  some  penal 


212  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

codes  (the  German  penal  code,  for  example)  juveniles 
are  expressly  excluded  from  the  punishment  of  death. 
In  their  case  the  punishment  takes  the  form  of  a 
sentence  of  from  three  to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment. 
Among  communities  where  a  provision  of  this  cha- 
racter does  not  exist  in  the  statute-book  a  somewhat 
similar  principle  is  acted  upon  in  the  actual  adminis- 
tration of  justice.  In  practice  capital  punishment 
has  passed  away  as  a  method  of  dealing  with  juve- 
nile offenders,  and  as  there  is  no  probability  of  its 
restoration  it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  corporal  punishment,  in  the 
shape  of  flogging  or  whipping,  is  in  active  operation 
in  the  treatment  of  juvenile  delinquency.  But  it  is 
far  from  being  universally  recognised  as  a  legitimate 
form  of  punishment.  It  does  not  exist,  for  instance, 
in  the  penal  codes  of  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Austria, 
Russia,  Switzerland,  and  Sweden.  The  exclusion  of 
flogging  from  the  criminal  legislation  of  these  great 
communities  is  a  proof  of  the  extent  to  which  civi- 
lised opinion  is  divided  on  the  subject  of  corporal 
punishment.  Flogging  in  some  form  or  other  forms 
a  part  of  the  criminal  law  of  England,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  Norway,  and  Denmark,  and  several  of  the 
colonies.  In  Norway  whipping  is  a  very  common 
form  of  punishment  for  children  between  ten  and 
fifteen  years  of  age.  In  Denmark  whipping  is  used 
for  girls  up  to  the  age  of  twelve,  and  for  boys  up 
to  the  age  of  fifteen  ;  in  addition  to  this,  flogging  is 
resorted  to  for  youths  between  the  ages  of  fifteen 
and  eighteen  if  they  are  medically  certified  as  fit 
to  endure  it.     As  far  as  I  am  aware  Denmark  is  the 


CORPORAL   PUNISHMENT.  21  3 

only  civilised  community  where  the  whipping  of  girls 
is  a  punishment  admitted  by  the  criminal  law.  ^ 

In  the  year  1893  the  number  of  children  sentenced 
to  be  \^'hipped  in  England  by  courts  of  summary 
jurisdiction  amounted  to  2,858,  and  it  is  probable 
that  a  few  more  were  sentenced  at  assizes  and  courts 
of  quarter  sessions.  In  Scotland  in  the  same  year 
335  boys  were  sentenced  to  be  whipped  ;  in  Ireland 
whipping  is  very  rarely  resorted  to,  and  in  the  Colonies 
it  is  a  mode  of  punishment  which  is  very  seldom 
inflicted  on  the  young.  In  the  colony  of  Victoria, 
for  instance,  only  forty- four  juveniles  were  corporally 
punished  in  the  seventeen  years  prior  to  1890,  and  in 
New  South  Wales  no  case  occurred  in  1890  in  which 
juveniles  were  ordered  to  be  whipped  by  courts  of 
summary  jurisdiction.  2 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  corporal  punishment 
of  juveniles  as  it  exists  in  Great  Britain  is  surrounded 
by  a  considerable  number  of  safeguards.  Where  a 
child  is  supposed  to  be  in  delicate  health  a  medical 
man  must  be  consulted  before  the  sentence  can  take 
effect.  When  a  child  is  under  ten  years  of  age  the 
birch  rod  used  for  executing  the  sentence  must  be 
lighter  than  the  instrument  employed  for  older 
offenders.  The  number  of  strokes  is  also  regulated 
by  Acts  of  Parliament.  Where  a  child  is  under 
twelv^e  the  number  of  strokes  must  not  exceed  six, 
and  where  he  is  under  fourteen  the  number  must  not 
exceed  twelve.     The  whipping  takes  place  privately. 

'  See  "  Le  Droit  criminel  des  Etats  Europeens,"  Berlin  and  Paris, 
1894. 
^  See  Official  Year  Books  of  Victoria  and  New  South  Wales. 


214  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

It  is  administered  by  a  constable,  but  another  con- 
stable of  higher  rank  must  be  present  to  witness  it, 
and  the  parents  or  guardians  of  the  child  may  also 
be  present  if  they  wish. 

The  absence  of  whipping  from  the  penal  codes  of 
so  many  important  European  peoples  is  a  fact  of  great 
significance,  and  compels  us  to  consider  how  far  it  is 
calculated  to  serve  the  ends  which  punishment  has  in 
view.  In  so  far  as  the  statute-books  are  to  be  taken 
as  an  index  of  the  deliberate  judgments  of  civilised 
communities,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  balance 
of  international  opinion  is  hostile  to  whipping.  As 
has  already  been  stated,  the  only  countries  which 
retain  this  form  of  punishment  as  a  judicial  penalty 
are  Denmark,  Norway,  and  the  United  Kingdom 
and  its  offshoots.  All  other  civilised  nationalities 
are  hostile  to  it.  On  a  matter  of  this  nature  a 
distinct  preponderance  of  international  opinion  is 
worthy  of  serious  consideration.  There  is  an  inter- 
national as  well  as  a  national  conscience.  When 
the  international  conscience  condemns  flogging  and 
whipping  as  legitimate  instruments  of  social  defence 
it  is  incumbent  on  the  upholders  of  these  modes  of 
punishment  to  re-examine  the  grounds  on  which  they 
rest  in  the  light  of  this  condemnation.  It  is  true  the 
decisions  of  the  international  conscience  are  not 
decisive  in  relation  to  questions  of  penal  law.  Penal 
law,  as  well  as  all  kinds  of  law,  is,  and  must  always 
remain  up  to  a  certain  point,  national  in  its  character. 
But  where  principles  of  punishment  are  involved 
which  are  within  the  scope  of  penal  law  as  a  whole, 
these  principles,  if  they  have  become  merely  national 


CORPORAL   PUXISHMEXT.  2\$ 

in    their    application,    must    be   justified    by    special 
reasons  before  the  bar  of  international  opinion. 

In  England  and  Scotland  national  opinion,  so  far 
as  it  finds  expression,  is  on  the  whole  in  favour  of 
retaining  corporal  correction  as  a  means  of  dealing 
with  juvenile  offenders.  Most  of  the  witnesses 
examined  before  the  Royal  Commission  on  Re- 
formatory and  Industrial  Schools  expressed  their 
belief  in  the  utility  of  whipping.  Sir  Godfrey 
Lushington,  late  permanent  Under-Secretary  for  the 
Home  Department,  stated  in  his  evidence  that  all 
that  was  needed  for  certain  classes  of  young  offenders 
was  to  order  them  to  be  whipped  and  sent  about 
their  business.  Mr.  Rogers,  assistant-inspector  of 
reformatory  and  industrial  schools,  was  of  opinion 
that  children  might  be  whipped.  Captain  Brooks,  of 
the  Feltham  Industrial  School,  advocated  whipping 
in  cases  of  truancy,  and  Mr.  Whitwill,  a  Bristol 
magistrate  of  great  experience,  believed  in  whipping 
in  cases  of  stone-throwing,  window-breaking,  and 
boyish  delinquencies  of  a  similar  character.  Another 
witness,  Mr.  Rathbone,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
neglect  and  rough  treatment  to  which  some  children 
are  subjected  are  infinitely  more  severe  than  any 
corporal  punishment  the  magistrate  would  inflict. 
On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Cook  Spens,  sheriff  substi- 
tute for  Lanarkshire,  objected  to  the  criminal  courts 
ordering  a  whipping.  In  their  report  the  Royal 
Commissioners  agreed  with  the  majority  of  the 
witnesses.  In  all  cases  of  offences  by  children  under 
fourteen  they  recommended  that  the  magistrates 
should  have  power  to  order  boys  to  be  whipped. 


2l6  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

Sir  Charles  Cameron's  committee  are  in  substantial 
agreement  with  the  Royal  Commissioners  as  to  the 
advisability  of  whipping  for  juveniles.  "  We  are  of 
opinion,"  they  say,  "  that  in  police-court  cases,  where 
punishment. of  some  sort  must  be  inflicted,  whipping 
is  infinitely  preferable  to  imprisonment,  and  that  the 
age  up  to  which  it  is  competent  might  with  great 
advantage  be  extended."  In  addition  to  advocating 
an  extension  of  the  age  at  which  whipping  might 
be  administered,  Sir  Charles  Cameron's  committee 
were  also  of  opinion  that  it  should  be  utilised  as  an 
alternative  to  fining.  At  present  it  is  a  matter  of 
considerable  doubt  whether  a  magistrate  has  the 
power  to  order  a  juvenile  to  be  fined,  or  in  default  to 
be  whipped.  The  usual  alternative  to  a  fine  is  so 
many  days'  imprisonment.  The  question  therefore 
arises  whether  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  enlarge 
the  discretion  of  the  mas^istrate  in  the  selection  of 
alternative  penalties.  The  disastrous  results  of  im- 
prisonment are  so  manifest  that  an  enlargement  of 
the  catalogue  of  legitimate  alternatives  is  one  of  the 
necessities  of  the  hour.  According  to  the  wording 
of  existing  Acts  of  Parliament  it  is  doubtful  whether 
magistrates  have  any  alternative  besides  imprison- 
ment when  a  fine  is  not  paid.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
Sir  Charles  Cameron's  committee  that  all  doubt  on 
this  subject  should  be  removed.  It  should  be  made 
perfectly  clear  that  whipping  may  be  used  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  non-payment  of  a  fine. 

Whilst  advocating  the  retention  and  even  the 
extension  of  whipping,  Sir  Charles  Cameron's  com- 
mittee were  very  well  aware  of  the  disinclination  of 


CORPORAL   PUNISHMENT.  217 

many  magistrates  to  adopt  this  mode  of  punishment 
in    deahng   with   juvenile   offenders.       It    is    no    use 
putting  laws  upon    the  statute-book   if  these  enact- 
ments   are    so    repugnant    to    the    administrators    of 
justice  that  they  will  not  make  use  of  them.     Many 
magistrates    have    a    rooted    objection    to    whipping 
under   any    circumstances,   and    many  others   whose 
objection    to  whipping  is  not  of  so  absolute  a  cha- 
racter   are    yet     opposed    to     the    instrument    with 
which   it    is    at    present    inflicted.     For  all    practical 
purposes  magistrates  who  are  hostile  to  whipping  on 
principle,  as  well  as   magistrates  who  are  hostile  to 
the  way  in   which   it  is  administered,  belong  to  the 
same  class.     Neither  of  them  will  use  it  as  a  mode 
of  punishment.     In  order  to  meet  the  difficulties  of 
those  magistrates  who  are  not  opposed  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  whipping,  but  object  to  the  birch  rod  as  a 
suitable  instrument  for  administering  it,  the  Scotch 
committee    propose    that    the    "  tawse "    should    be 
permitted  as    an   alternative    to    the    birch    rod,  and 
that  the  punishment  should  be  administered  on  the 
hand    of    the    offender.     "  To    meet    the    widespread 
objection  to  the  use   of  the    birch,"  says  the  report, 
'  it  might  be  well  to  allow  magistrates  to  order  the 
punishment    to    be    inflicted    on    the    hand    of    the 
offender  with  a  leathern  tawse,  an  implement  to  the 
innocuous  yet   deterrent   effects   of  which    many  of 
them  will  be  able  to  testify  from  personal  experience." 
We  have  already   pointed    out    that    in    Denmark 
whipping  is  in  use  for  girls  up  to  the  age  of  twelve. 
The    Scotch  committee  consider    that   the  results  of 
sending  young  girls  to  prison  are  so  lamentable  that 


2l8  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

they  are  prepared  to  recommend  something  of  a 
similar  character  for  Scotland.  "Whipping  with  a 
birch,"  they  say,  "  is  not  a  suitable  punishment  for 
girls,  but  so  lamentable  does  your  committee  con- 
sider the  results  of  sending  young  girls  to  prison, 
that  they  venture  to  recommend  in  cases  similar  to 
those  in  which  whipping  can  be  inflicted  on  boys, 
girls  might  be  subjected  to  a  punishment  which  is 
meted  out  to  them  at  public  schools,  and  which  has 
been  sanctioned  in  the  case  of  female  industrial 
schools,  namely,  strokes  on  the  hand  with  a  leathern 
strap  or  tawse.  Such  a  punishment  would  meet  the 
case  of  boisterous  conduct  in  the  streets  or  a  petty 
theft  of  coals  much  more  fitly,  and  with  infinitely  less 
disastrous  results  to  the  girl's  future,  than  a  sentence 
of  imprisonment." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  numerous  quotations  which 
have  just  been  made  from  experts,  Royal  commis- 
sions, and  committees,  that  the  drift  of  opinion  is 
at  present  running  in  the  direction  of  substituting 
whipping  for  imprisonment  in  the  case  of  juvenile 
offenders,  and  that  one  committee  has  even  ventured 
to  recommend  a  mild  form  of  corporal  punishment 
for.  girls.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  not  omit  to 
mention  that  some  authorities  are  of  opinion  that 
imprisonment  is  the  more  effective  punishment.  In 
his  evidence  before  the  Reformatory  and  Industrial 
School  Commission  the  late  Mr.  Lloyd  Baker  said, 
"  I  consider  a  short  imprisonment  very  much  better 
than  a  whipping.  Whipping  is  cheaper  and  more 
readily  done,  but  it  has  not  the  same  effect  upon 
boys.     The  violent  pain  is  very  soon  over,  and  the 


CORPORAL    PUNISHMENT.  219 

boy  does  not  like  the  chance  of  getting  it  again,  but 
that  is  almost  all ;  whereas  a  week  or  a  fortnight  in 
prison  gives  a  boy  time  for  meditation,  and  he  thinks 
over  what  he  has  done,  and  it  takes  a  hold  upon  his 
mind,  and  he  is  far  less  likely  to  go  wrong  again  than 
after  a  whipping.  A  whipping  will  do  a  great  deal 
of  good  the  first  time,  but  I  do  not  think  that 
whipping  a  second  time  does  good,  and  I  think 
that  a  whipping  a  third  time  generally  does  mischief" 
In  proof  of  these  statements  Mr.  Baker  produced  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Wheatley  Balme,  an  experienced 
Yorkshire  magistrate.  In  this  letter  Mr.  Balme  said, 
"  As  a  young  magistrate  four  and  thirty  years  ago  I 
was  strongly  in  favour  of  birching.  My  faith  was 
shaken  by  observing  in  the  Black  Book  at  quarter 
sessions  how  frequently  a  whipping  appeared  at  the 
beginning  of  a  long  list  of  re-convictions.  This  led 
me  to  inquire  further,  and  I  got  Mr.  Shepherd,  the 
governor  of  Wakefield  prison,  to  go  very  carefully 
into  a  large  number  of  cases  of  juvenile  crime  re- 
corded there.  We  found  that  while  on  the  average 
about  30  per  cent,  of  juvenile  offenders  sentenced  to 
ordinary  imprisonment  were  re-convicted,  of  those 
on  whom  a  whipping  had  formed  part  of  the  sentence 
no  less  than  do  per  cent,  were  re-convicted." 

In  estimating  the  value  of  these  statistics  it  is  to 
be  borne  in  mind  that  juveniles  sentenced  to  a 
combination  of  whipping  and  imprisonment  are  of 
a  more  hardened  class  than  juveniles  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  only.  It  is  probable  that  this  fact 
would  account,  at  least  to  a  considerable  extent,  for 
the  much  higher  percentage  of  rc-convictions  among 


220  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

such  offenders.  Where  offenders  have  become  habi- 
tuated to  a  hfe  of  crime,  the  effect  of  punishment 
upon  their  future  conduct  descends  to  a  minimum, 
and  it  is  very  likely  that  the  twofold  punishment  of 
whipping  and  imprisonment  was  dealt  out  to  juveniles 
of  this  description.  But,  even  admitting  this  to  be 
correct,  it  is  no  doubt  significant  that  re-convictions 
are  much  higher  among  juveniles  corporally  punished 
than  among  the  same  class  of  offenders  who  are 
merely  imprisoned.  It  would,  however,  be  rash  to 
infer  from  Mr.  Baker's  statistics  that  prison  is  more 
calculated  to  deter  than  corporal  punishment.  In 
order  to  test  the  comparative  efficacy  of  these  two 
methods  of  punishment  it  would  be  necessary  to 
have  statistics  on  a  larger  scale,  and  covering  a  wider 
area. 

In  the  meantime  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  remark 
that  neither  imprisonment  nor  corporal  punishment 
possesses  much  value  in  preventing  a  repetition  of 
the  offence  unless  other  conditions  of  an  entirely 
different  character  are  brought  into  operation.  Unless 
punishment  is  accompanied  by  an  amelioration  of 
the  individual  or  social  conditions  out  of  which  the 
offence  has  sprung,  the  offence  will  be  repeated.  It 
is  an  amelioration  of  the  conditions  which  produce 
the  offence  which  prevents  its  repetition ;  and  in  cases 
where  it  is  not  repeated  it  is  fallacious  to  assume 
that  the  cure  has  been  effected  either  by  corporal 
chastisement  or  a  short  period  of  imprisonment. 
An  examination  of  individual  cases  at  once  exposes 
the  fallacy  of  such  an  assumption.  When  such  an 
examination  is  undertaken  it  will  almost  always  be 


CORPORAL   PUNISHMENT.  221 

found  that  the  offence  is  repeated  if  the  juvenile 
returns  after  his  punishment  to  the  same  miserable 
social  circumstances  in  which  he  lived  before.  But 
in  a  considerable  proportion  of  cases  the  offence  is 
not  repeated  if  the  social  circumstances  of  the  young 
offender  are  ameliorated  after  punishment.  Facts  of 
this  character  conclusively  show  that  it  is  not  the 
punishment  which  prevents  a  recurrence  of  the 
offence.  Its  recurrence  is  prevented  by  removing 
the  adverse  circumstances  out  of  which  it  arose. 


i6 


CHAPTER   XII. 
IMPRISONMENT. 

Punishment  involving  loss  of  liberty — Slavery — Banishment- 
Banishment  in  modern  penal  codes — Local  banishment  in 
France  and  Italy — Transportation  in  Great  Britain — Interdic- 
tion— Imprisonment  —  Imprisonment  in  antiquity — Imprison- 
ment in  the  Middle  Ages — Imprisonment  arose  as  a  reaction 
^  against  more   severe   punishments — Houses  of  correction  for 

petty  offenders — Treatment  of  offenders  in  houses  of  correc- 
f  tion — Houses   of   correction  used  for  serious   offenders — The 

modern  prison  based  on  the  ancient  monastery — The  cellular 
system — Filippo  Franci,  Pope  Clement  XI.,  Vilain,  Benjamin 
Franklin — Continuous  solitude — The  Pennsylvanian  system — 
The  Auburn  system  —  The  progressive  system — Archbishop 
Whately — Captain  Maconochie — Prison  life  hinders  the  working 
of  the  progressive  system — Prisons  in  disrepute — Causes  of  this  : 
recidivism — Old  offenders — Short  sentences  and  old  offenders 
— Improved  methods  of  detention — Substitutes  for  imprison- 
ment— The  reaction  against  imprisonment  as  seen  in  the  treat- 
ment of  juvenile  offenders — Effect  of  imprisonment  on  the 
young — Age  at  which  children  are  liable  to  imprisonment — 
Age  of  penal  responsibility  in  continental  criminal  codes — Age 
of  penal  responsibility  in  English  law — Committal  of  children 
to  prison  before  trial — Detention  of  children  before  trial — Tiie 
police  cells — Police-court  missions — Detention  in  the  workhouse 
— Children  after  conviction — Sir  J.  Stephen  on  juvenile  responsi- 
bility— A  knoAvledge  of  right  and  wrong  is  not  an  adequate  test 
of  penal  responsibility — Prison  treatment  of  juveniles — Prison 
dietary — Prison  often  the  final  stage  of  a  series  of  privations — 
The  discharged  prisoner — Prison  discipline  should  be  synony- 
mous with  industrial  discipline — The  prison  cell — Its  effects  on 
the  mind — Short   sentences   and   industrial   occupations — The 


IMPRISONMENT.  223 

juvenile  prisoner's  relations  with  the  outside  world — Prisons 
not  constructed  for  juveniles — The  supervision  of  imprisoned 
juveniles — The  liberation  of  juvenile  offenders — The  prepara- 
tions for  liberty — Conditional  liberation. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  punish- 
ments which  involve  the  loss  of  liberty.  Punishments 
of  this  character  may  be  divided  into  three  classes — 
slavery,  banishment,  and  imprisonment.  Educational 
institutions  for  juvenile  offenders,  such  as  reformatory 
and  industrial  schools,  are  also  accompanied  by  a 
partial  loss  of  liberty,  but  inasmuch  as  these  estab- 
lishments exist  for  educational  rather  than  punitive 
purposes,  it  is  better  to  treat  them  as  a  distinctive 
class.  Loss  of  liberty  in  the  form  of  slavery  was 
a  common  form  of  punishment  among  the  nations  of 
antiquity.  It  was  also  in  use  among  partially  civi- 
lised or  uncivilised  races,  such  as  the  Aztecs  of 
Mexico  and  the  people  of  Oceania,  and  is  at  present 
in  operation  among  some  of  the  Indo-Chinese 
populations.  As  a  method  of  dealing  with  criminal 
offenders  it  does  not  exist  in  modern  European 
communities.  The  Western  conscience  has  deci- 
sively turned  its  back  upon  the  institution  of  slavery. 
As  a  punishment  for  crime  slavery  merely  possesses 
an  historical  interest  as  far  as  the  West  is  concerned. 
It  is  therefore  needless  to  discuss  it  here. 

Banishment  is  one  of  the  very  oldest  and  most 
widely  spread  forms  of  punishment.  It  has  existed 
in  all  stages  of  civilisation  and  among  almost 
all  races  as  an  accredited  instrument  of  social  dis- 
pleasure and  defence.  Among  the  uncivilised  tribes 
of    Africa    and    the    scattered    communities   of  the 


224  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

southern  seas,  banishment  is  a  portion  of  the 
unwritten  criminal  code.  It  is  a  legal  institution 
among  many  of  the  races  in  the  Far  East,  and  if 
we  travel  back  into  antiquity  it  will  be  found  in- 
scribed in  the  surviving  fragments  of  ancient  Egyptian 
law.i  Banishment  is  a  familiar  weapon  in  Greek  and 
Roman  jurisprudence,  and  it  exists  in  one  form  or 
another  in  the  penal  codes  of  several  modern  com- 
munities. In  Russia  banishment  is  a  very  common 
method  of  punishment.  It  exists  in  three  forms : 
deportation  with  hard  labour,  or,  as  it  is  called  in 
Russia,  katorga ;  deportation  with  obligatory  resi- 
dence in  Siberia  ;  and  simple  deportation.  Simple 
deportation  consists  in  sentencing  the  offender  to 
exile  in  Siberia,  or  to  exile  in  one  of  the  more  remote 
provinces  of  the  empire.  Punishment  of  this  descrip- 
tion is  only  applicable  to  the  privileged  classes.  In 
France  banishment  is  also  a  portion  of  the  criminal 
code,  and,  as  in  Russia,  it  assumes  three  distinct 
forms.  For  political  offences  of  a  secondary  character 
the  offender  may  be  banished  from  French  territory 
for  a  period  of  from  five  to  ten  years  ;  for  crime 
against  the  common  law  criminals  may  be  sent  to 
French  Guiana  or  to  New  Caledonia.  In  addition 
to  these  penalties  a  sort  of  local  banishment  exists 
in  France  consisting  of  certain  special  restrictions 
with  regard  to  residence  and  liberty  of  movement. 
Offenders  liberated,  as  we  should  say,  on  ticket-of- 
leave  are,  instead  of  being  placed  under  police 
supervision,   sometimes    subjected    to    these   special 

'  See  "  Grundriss  der  Ethnologischen  Jurisprudenz,"  von  A.  H. 
Post.,  Zweiter  Band,  p.  284,  Oldenburg  und  Leipzig,  1895. 


IMPRISONMENT.  22$ 

restrictions.  They  are  forbidden  to  live  in  certain 
localities,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  large  cities  of 
Paris,  Marseilles,  Lyons,  and  Bordeaux.  The  new 
Italian  penal  code  has  also  a  sort  of  local  banishment 
somewhat  similar  in  character  to  the  French. 

Restrictions  upon  liberty  in  the  shape  of  compul- 
sory deportation  to  another  country  do  not  exist  in 
the  United  Kingdom  or  in  the  United  States.  As  a 
means  of  dealing  with  adult  criminals  it  undoubtedly 
produced  grave  abuses  in  the  past,  but  it  is  question- 
able whether  these  abuses  are  inevitable  accompani- 
ments of  the  system,  or  whether  they  arose  from  the 
defective  manner  in  which  it  was  administered.  The 
best  of  systems  if  badly  administered  will  produce 
bad  results.  The  evils  of  the  old  system  of  trans- 
portation arose  to  a  large  extent  out  of  the  atrocious 
severity  with  which  the  convicts  were  treated.  Some 
of  the  officials  exhibited  the  ferocity  of  wild  beasts 
in  the  treatment  of  the  prisoners  committed  to  their 
charge.  One  of  the  fundamental  rules  of  efficient 
prison  management  is  that  a  severe  example  should 
be  made  of  every  official  convicted  of  inflicting 
illegal  and  excessive  punishments.  It  was  unques- 
tionably owing  to  a  neglect  of  this  wholesome  pre- 
caution that  transportation  was  often  attended  with 
such  deplorable  results.  As  far  as  the  treatment  of 
juvenile  offenders  is  concerned,  it  is  unnecessary  for 
us  to  discuss  the  question  of  transportation.  Trans- 
portation is  hardly  applicable  to  persons  in  a  condi- 
tion of  immaturity.  Before  the  offender  has  attained 
the  full  measure  of  physical  and  mental  develop- 
ment, it  is  only  in  the  rarest  cases  that  it  would  be 


226  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

either  wise  or  just  to  expel  him  permanently  from 
the  society  in  which  he  has  been  born. 

The  case  is  somewhat  different  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  expediency  of  interdicting  the  juvenile 
offender  from  living  in  certain  specified  portions  of 
the  realm.  In  a  preceding  chapter  it  has  been 
pointed  out  that  large  cities  are  the  hotbeds  of 
juvenile  crime,  as  well  as  of  criminality  in  general. 
That  liberated  prisoners  are  often  forbidden  to  live 
in  large  cities  such  as  Paris  and  Lyons  is  a  proof 
that  the  same  opinion  is  entertained  in  France.  The 
principle  of  interdiction  is  undoubtedly  a  sound  one. 
If  crime  is  from  five  to  ten  times  more  rampant  in 
some  districts  than  it  is  in  others,  a  juvenile  who  has 
been  once  convicted  is  much  more  likely  to  become 
an  habitual  offender  if  he  goes  to  reside  in  a  place 
where  the  percentage  of  crime  is  above,  rather  than  in 
a  district  where  the  percentage  of  crime  is  below  the 
average.  At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  many  sound  principles  are  of  little  practical 
utility  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  putting  them  into 
effective  use.  A  sound  principle  is  one  thing,  its 
application  in  the  midst  of  existing  social  conditions 
is  often  quite  another  thing ;  and  for  purposes  of 
penal  legislation  a  principle  must  not  only  be  sound, 
it  must  also  possess  the  merit  of  being  adaptable  to 
practical  needs.  To  put  an  interdict  upon  certain 
places  of  abode  can  only  be  effectively  applied  when 
the  individualisation  of  punishment  has  assumed  a 
much  more  prominent  position  in  the  administration 
of  justice  than  it  does  at  present.  In  certain  cases  of 
juvenile  crime  the  utility  of  the  French  and  Italian 


IMPRISONMENT.  227 

law  of  interdict  is  unquestionable,  and^the  application 
of  such  a  law  would  undoubtedly  be  productive  of 
the  best  results.  But  before  it  could  be  put  into 
operation  all  the  circumstances  of  the  offender  would 
require  to  be  taken  into  the  most  careful  considera- 
tion in  order  to  ascertain  whether  the  proposed 
penalty  was  suitable  to  the  concrete  individual  case. 
The  individualisation  of  punishment — in  other  words, 
the  adaptation  of  punishment  to  the  individual  cir- 
cumstances of  each  offender — is  one  of  the  most 
pressing  requirements  of  the  time  in  the  domain 
of  criminal  jurisprudence.  It  exists  as  a  sort  of 
embryonic  principle  in  all  criminal  codes,  and  it  is 
to  a  certain  extent  resorted  to  in  practice.  But 
until  it  becomes  a  fundamental  part  of  all  criminal 
proceedings,  many  valuable  reforms  in  criminal  law 
must  remain  in  abeyance,  or  if  enacted  can  only 
produce  imperfect  results. 

We  now  come  to  the  last  kind  of  punishment 
which  involves  the  loss  of  liberty — namely,  imprison- 
ment. Imprisonment  is  a  less  primitive  method  of 
dealing  with  offenders  against  the  law  than  slavery 
or  banishment.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  do  not 
find  any  traces  of  its  existence  among  many  un- 
civilised races.  Even  among  communities  standing 
as  high  in  the  scale  of  social  development  as  the 
Chinese,  the  practice  of  imprisonment  does  not  exist 
as  a  penalty  for  crime.  Chinese  prisons  are  merely 
establishments  for  the  safe  custody  of  offenders 
awaiting  trial  or  awaiting  punishment. 

It  is  also  a  well-known  dictum  of  Roman  law  that 
prisons  in  the  Roman  empire  are  to  be  used  for  the 


228  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS, 

safe  custody  and  not  for  the  punishment  of  the 
prisoner.  In  practice  this  principle  was  acted  upon 
by  most  European  communities  till  about  the  period 
of  the  Reformation.  Before  that  period  cases  some- 
times occurred,  especially  in  Italy,  in  which  an 
offender  was  committed  to  prison  as  a  punishment. 
But  as  a  rule  imprisonment  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  word  occupied  a  very  obscure  place  on  the  list  of 
pains  and  penalties,  and,  except  among  the  monastic 
orders,  had  hardly  come  into  existence  as  a  regular 
means  of  dealing  with  serious  crime.  In  the  reigns 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  several  enactments 
of  a  severe  character  were  passed  against  "  sturdy 
vagabonds,  valiant  beggars,"  and  other  offenders 
against  public  order,  but  the  usual  penalties  attached 
to  these  offences  were  whipping,  mutilation,  slavery, 
or  death. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  we  witness  the 
commencement  of  a  reaction  against  these  punish- 
ments. In  England,  Holland,  and  Germany,  a  new 
form  of  penal  treatment  in  the  shape  of  houses  of 
correction  came  into  prominence.  In  the  reign  of 
James  I.  it  was  enacted  that  houses  of  this  descrip- 
tion should  be  established  in  every  county.  At  first 
these  houses  of  correction  were  principally  used  for 
the  punishment  of  petty  offenders  against  public 
order.  These  people  are  described  in  the  quaint 
language  of  the  time  as  "  rogues,  vagabonds,  idle, 
loitering,  and  lewd  persons,  and  masterless  men  and 
women."  In  the  thirty-first  year  of  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  the  justices    of  the  peace    for   the 


IMPRISONMENT.  229 

county  of  Suffolk  assembled  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds 
and  drew  up  a  number  of  orders,  rules,  and  directions 
for  the  treatment  of  such  offenders.  These  rules  and 
regulations  enable  us  to  form  some  sort  of  idea  of  the 
manner  in  which  houses  of  correction  were  then  con- 
ducted. "  It  is  ordered  and  agreed  upon,"  say  the 
justices,  "  that  every  strong  or  sturdy  rogue  at  his  or 
her  first  entrance  into  the  said  house  shall  have 
twelve  stripes  upon  his  bare  skin  with  the  said  whip 
provided  for  the  said  house,  and  every  young  rogue 
or  idle  loiterer  six  stripes  with  the  said  whip.  And 
that  every  one  of  them  without  fail  at  their  first 
coming  into  the  said  house  shall  have  put  upon  him, 
her,  or  them,  some  clog,  chain,  collar  of  iron,  ring,  or 
manacle,  such  as  the  keeper  of  the  said  house  shall 
think  meet,  so  as  he  may  answer  for  every  one  as 
well  for  his  forthcoming,  as  also  that  they  shall  be 
quiet  and  do  no  hurt  for  the  time  they  shall  con- 
tinue in  the  said  house."  From  the  wording  of  this 
order  it  appears  that  it  was  the  custom  to  whip  every 
prisoner  committed  to  a  house  of  correction,  and  in 
order  to  secure  his  safe  custody  to  put  him  in  chains. 
Severities  of  this  acute  description  would  now  be 
regarded  as  intolerable,  but  as  a  set-off  it  appears 
that  the  inmates  were  abundantly  supplied  with  food. 
"  It  is  ordered,"  say  the  justices,  "  that  every  person 
committed  to  the  said  house  shall  have  for  their  diet 
the  portions  of  meat  and  drink  following,  and  not 
above,  namely,  at  every  dinner  and  supper  on  the 
flesh  days  bread  made  of  rye  eight  ounces  troy 
weight,  with  a  pint  of  porridge,  a  quarter  of  a  pound 
of  flesh,  and  a  pint  of  beer.     And  on  every  fish  day 


J 


230  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.  f  { 

at  dinner  and  supper  the  like  quantity,  made  either 
of  milk  or  pease  or  such  like,  and  the  third  part  of  a 
pound  of  cheese,  or  good  herring,  or  two  white  or  red, 
according  as  the  keeper  of  the  house  shall  think 
meet."  Well-conducted  prisoners  had  an  extra 
allowance  of  food.  "  It  is  ordered  that  such  persons 
as  will  apply  their  work  shall  have  allowance  of  beer 
and  bread  between  meals."  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  ordered  "  that  they  which  will  not  vv^ork  shall  have 
no  allowance  but  bread  and  beer  only  until  they  will 
conform  themselves  to  work." 

The  establishment  on  an  e.xtensive  scale  of  houses 
of  correction  for  petty  offenders  gradually  led  to 
their  being  used  for  persons  convicted  of  serious 
crimes.  It  was  in  the  course  of  the  seventeenth 
century  that  the  original  purpose  of  these  penal 
establishments  was  enlarged,  and  criminals  of  all 
sorts  began  to  be  found  within  their  walls.  One  of 
the  first  results  of  this  change  was  the  promiscuous 
association  of  all  classes  of  delinquents,  and  in  order 
to  counteract  the  inevitable  evils  of  indiscriminate 
association  it  was  essential  that  prisons  should  be 
constructed  upon  a  principle  which  would  effect  this 
object.  A  hint  was  taken  from  the  methods  of 
punishment  in  use  in  the  monasteries.  It  was  a  very 
old  practice  in  these  institutions — a  practice  dating  at 
least  from  the  sixth  century — to  condemn  the  re- 
calcitrant morlk  to  a  period  of  detention  and  isolation 
in  his  cell.  In  many  of  the  monastic  institutions 
special  cells  were  set  apart  for  this  purpose.  In  the 
Rule  of  St.  Benedict,  who  founded  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Casino,  near  Naples,  in  the  year  529,  it  is  laid 


r.MPR/SONMEXT.  23 1 

down  that  delinquent  inmates  of  the  cloister  shall  be 
shut  up  in  their  cells  as  long  as  the  abbot  considers 
it  expedient.  In  the  same  century  St.  Columba  pre- 
scribes a  period  of  complete  isolation  in  a  cell  for 
excommunicated  nuns.  St.  C«?sarius  of  Aries  also 
made  regulations  to  the  effect  that  offending  brothers 
shall  be  confined  in  a  dark  and  solitary  cell.  In  fact, 
almost  all  the  monastic  orders  resorted  to  cellular 
confinement  in  one  form  or  another  as  a  mode  of 
punishment  and  of  enforcing  monastic  discipline. 

One  of  the  first  recorded  instances  of  the  applica- 
tion of  cellular  imprisonment  to  ordinary  offenders 
dates  from  the  year  1667.  At  that  period  a  Floren- 
tine priest  named  Filippo  Franci  became  the  head  of 
an  institution  at  Florence  established  for  the  purpose 
of  reclaiming  abandoned  and  delinquent  juveniles. 
Cellular  separation  was  one  of  the  methods  adopted 
by  Franci  in  the  organisation  of  his  charitable  work. 
The  children  were  admitted  to  his  institution  at  night 
so  that  no  one  should  see  them  enter,  and  each  time 
an  inmate  left  his  cell  he  had  to  wear  a  sort  of  mask 
so  that  no  one  should  be  able  to  recognise  him.  The 
system  adopted  by  Franci  at  Florence  was  shortly 
afterwards  followed  in  its  main  outlines  at  Rome.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  Pope  Clement 
XI.  opened  the  celebrated  juvenile  prison  of  San 
Michele  (1704).  In  this  establishment  the  inmates 
worked  in  common  during  the  day  and  were  sub- 
jected to  cellular  separation  at  night.  From  Italy 
the  cellular  system  found  its  way  to  Belgium.  Here 
it  was  applied  not  merely  to  juveniles  but  to  offenders 
of  all  ages.     There  may  be  no  direct  evidence  of  the 


232  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

kind  which  Mr.  Wines  in  his  interesting  book  on 
"  Punishment  and  Reformation  "  asks  for  to  show  that 
Vilain,  the  founder  of  the  prison  at  Ghent  (1772),  was 
aware  of  the  experiment  made  in  Italy  about  a 
century  before.  But  it  is  exceedingly  unlikely  that  a 
man  of  his  wide  intelligence  was  unacquainted  with 
the  institutions  on  the  cellular  principle  which  had 
been  established  in  the  south  of  Europe.  But  whether 
Vilain  was  acquainted  with  these  experiments  or  not, 
it  is  in  any  case  the  fact  that  it  was  he  who  gave  the 
most  important  impetus  to  the  cellular  system  of 
imprisonment. 

Largely  under  the  influence  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
this  method  of  prison  treatment  was  transplanted 
across  the  Atlantic  and  established  at  Philadelphia 
in  its  most  rigorous  form.  Neither  Vilain  nor  Pope 
Clement  had  dreamt  of  keeping  the  prisoner  in  per- 
petual solitude.  Both  these  eminent  reformers  were 
quite  content  with  enforcing  the  rule  of  cellular  separa- 
tion at  night  and  labour  in  common  under  careful 
supervision  during  the  day.  But  the  Quakers  of  Penn- 
sylvania, in  their  zeal  for  separation,  devised  a  plan  of 
rigid  and  unremitting  solitude  both  day  and  night, 
and  unaccompanied  by  work  of  any  kind.  The 
terrible  isolation  and  monotony  of  an  existence  under 
such  conditions  rapidly  enfeebled  the  bodily  and 
mental  health  of  the  wretched  prisoners,  and  the 
system  proved  a  failure.  The  legislature  of  New 
York  fell  back  upon  the  method  in  operation  at  San 
Michele.  The  prison  at  Auburn  was  administered 
on  the  principle  of  separation  at  night  and  work  in 
common  under  the  rule  of  silence  by  day. 


IMPRISONMENT.  233 

In  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  commissions 
of  inquiry  were  sent  over  to  the  United  States  by 
England,  France,  and  Prussia,  to  examine  into  the 
working  of  the  prison  systems  in  operation  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York.  As  a  result  of  these  inves- 
tigations modifications  of  the  Pennsylvanian  and 
;\uburn  systems  of  prison  treatment  were  introduced 
into  Europe,  Australia  also  had  its  lessons  to  teach. 
Among  the  convicts  undergoing  sentences  of  trans- 
portation a  method  was  introduced  of  mitigating  the 
severities  of  detention,  and  of  shortening  its  duration 
as  a  reward  for  good  conduct.  This  system  was  con- 
sidered to  produce  such  excellent  results  that  it  was 
ultimately  adopted  in  English  and  Irish  prisons,  and 
it  is  now  in  operation  in  the  majority  of  prison 
establishments  throughout  the  civilised  world.  It  is 
usually  known  as  a  progressive  system  of  prison 
treatment.  The  principle  at  the  bottom  of  it  is  that 
the  treatment  of  the  prisoner  when  under  detention, 
and  the  duration  of  the  detention  itself,  shall  in  a 
certain  measure  be  made  dependent  on  the  manner 
in  which  the  prisoner  conducts  himself  while  in  con- 
finement. We  owe  the  enunciation  of  this  principle 
to  Archbishop  Whately,  and  its  practical  application 
to  Captain  Maconochie,  who  was  for  some  time  head 
of  an  Australian  penal  settlement.  It  would  be  an 
ideal  principle  if  good  conduct  in  prison  could  be 
accepted  as  a  guarantee  of  good  conduct  in  the 
ordinary  relations  of  life.  But  unfortunately  this  is 
far  from  being  the  case,  and  there  is  a  large  amount 
of  truth  in  the  familiar  paradox  that  the  good 
prisoner  is  a  bad  subject.     The  reason  of  this  is  not 


234  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

far  to  seek.  The  qualities  which  are  requisite  to 
make  a  good  prisoner  are  very  different  from  the 
quaHties  required  to  make  a  good  subject.  The  good 
prisoner  is  the  man  who  can  accommodate  himself 
most  easily  to  conditions  of  existence  which  have  no 
counterpart  in  the  outside  world.  His  life  in  prison 
is  an  unceasing  round  of  silence,  solitude,  isolation, 
and  mechanical  docility.  He  is  continuously  under 
the  dominion  of  a  highly  artificial  set  of  regulations. 
All  the  elementary  needs  of  existence  are  provided 
for  him  as  if  he  were  a  child.  In  most  cases  he  has 
become  a  criminal  because  he  has  been  unable  to 
provide  himself  with  these  elementary  requirements. 
When  he  enters  a  prison,  food,  shelter,  and  clothing 
are  immediately  supplied  to  him  without  any  effort 
of  his  own,  and  his  conduct  in  prison  affords  very 
little  evidence  that  he  will  be  able  to  supply  them  for 
himself  when  he  is  once  more  admitted  into  the 
atmosphere  of  freedom. 

In  order  that  good  conduct  in  prison  may  become 
a  rough  sort  of  test  of  the  manner  in  which  a  man 
is  likely  to  act  when  he  again  secures  his  liberty,  the 
conditions  of  prison  life  must  be  assimilated  as  closely 
as  possible  to  the  conditions  of  ordinary  existence. 
How  far  this  process  of  assimilation  can  be  carried 
is  a  matter  of  administrative  detail,  and  would  require 
to  be  considered  point  by  point.  But  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  it  can  be  carried  much  further  than  it  is  at 
present.  Prison  discipline,  if  it  is  to  be  of  any  use  at 
all. as  a  means  of  adjusting  the  prisoner  to  social  life 
in  the  outside  world;  must  become  practically  synony- 
mous with  industrial  discipline.    The  further  it  departs 


IMPRISONMENT.  235 

fiom  this  ideal  the  less  likely  it  is  to  be  successful  as 
an  instrument  of  reformation  or  social  protection.  It 
is  because  the  conception  of  prison  discipline  as  a  dis- 
cipline in  indust;y  is  sacrificed  to  an  unnatural  com- 
pound consisting  of  monasticism  and  militarism  that 
the  good  prisoner  is  so  often  the  bad  citizen.  The 
virtues  of  the  monastery  and  the  barrack-yard  are 
undoubtedly  of  the  highest  value  in  their  proper  place. 
But  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  are  not  the  cha- 
racteristics best  calculated  to  adapt  a  man  to  the 
conditions  of  existence  which  prevail  in  a  competitive 
and  industrial  community. 

It  is  no  doubt  the  more  or  less  conscious  recogni- 
tion of  this  fact  which  has  brought  imprisonment 
into  so  much  disrepute  in  recent  years.  The  criminal 
returns  of  almost  every  country  in  Europe  show  that 
the  percentage  of  well-conducted  prisoners  in  penal 
institutions  was  never  higher  than  it  is  at  the  present 
time.  But  unfortunately  the  same  returns  also  show 
that  the  proportion  of  prisoners  who  return  to  a 
life  of  crime  after  their  release  was  never  so  great  as 
it  is  now.  If  good  conduct  in  prison  were  a  trust- 
worthy test  of  the  enduring  efficacy  of  imprisonment 
its  effects  would  be  exhibited  in  the  after-life  of  the 
discharged  prisoner.  But  a  reference  to  the  after-life 
of  the  discharged  prisoner  shows  that  his  behaviour 
in  prison  is  in  far  too  many  cases  no  assurance 
whatever  of  the  course  he  will  pursue  when  he  is 
again  at  liberty  to  follow  the  bent  of  his  own  inclina- 
tions. Conclusive  evidence  of  this  fact  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  number  of  persons  who  are  discovered  to  be 
old   offenders  when  placed  upon   their  trial. 


236  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

In  a  recently  published  Blue  Book  dealing  with 
the  subject  of  habitual  criminals  it  was  pointed  out 
that  in  Lancashire,  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire, 
and  the  county  of  Stafford  about  70  per  cent,  of  the 
prisoners  tried  were  known  to  have  been  convicted 
before.  In  Liverpool,  Bradford,  and  Birmingham 
the  proportion  of  old  offenders  was  as  high  as  79  per 
cent.  In  other  parts  of  the  country  the  ratio  of  old 
offenders  was  not  so  high,  but  this  is  to  be  accounted 
for  merely  on  the  ground  that  they  escape  identifica- 
tion. With  facts  of  this  character  before  us  it  is  not 
far  from  the  mark  to  say  that  the  proportion  of  old 
offenders  amounts  to  about  70  per  cent,  of  the  con- 
victed population. 

It  is  sometimes  suggested  that  the  increase  in  the 
proportion  of  old  offenders  in  prison  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  circumstance  that  sentences  are  now  shorter 
than  formerly,  and  that  the  old  offender,  being  more 
frequently  at  liberty,  has  more  opportunities  of  return- 
ing to  prison  than  he  had  in  days  when  a  long  period 
of  detention  was  the  penalty  for  a  comparatively 
slight  offence.  It  is  possible  that  this  theory  may 
contain  a  certain  modicum  of  truth.  But  it  is 
hazardous  to  attach  much  value  to  it  in  view  of  its 
rejection  by  a  very  experienced  committee  which 
recently  reported  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
Scotland  on  this  very  subject.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  this  committee  that  the  shortening  of  sentences 
in  Scotland  by  one-half  within  the  last  thirty  years 
has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  increase  of  re-com- 
mittals to  prison,  and  that  to  double  the  duration  of 
the  present  sentences  would  not  diminish  the  pro- 


IMPRISOXMENT.  23/ 

portion    of  old    offenders   who  repeatedly   return    to 
prison. 

It  is  also  suggested  that  the  increase  of  old 
offenders  is  perhaps  more  apparent  than  real.  Our 
methods  of  detecting  old  offenders  are  now  much  in 
advance  of  what  they  were  a  generation  ago,  and  the 
ratio  of  old  offenders  is  apparently  greater  because 
more  of  them  are  now  detected  than  used  to  be  the 
case.  That  our  methods  of  detection  have  consider- 
ably improved  is  no  doubt  true,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  the  difficulties  of 
detection  have  also  materially  increased  within  the- 
last  twenty  years.  Within  the  last  two  decades  the 
population  of  our  large  cities  has  become  much 
vaster,  and  it  is  universally  recognised  to  be  the  fact 
that  the  larger  the  city,  and  the  denser  the  population, 
the  more  difficult  it  is  to  detect  the  old  offender. 
The  value  of  improved  methods  of  identification  is 
practically  neutralised  by  the  increased  difficulty  of 
detecting  the  offender  at  all.  In  view  of  considera- 
tions such  as  these  it  is  difficult  to  attach  much 
importance  to  the  theory  that  the  increase  of  old 
offenders  among  the  convicted  population  is  to  be 
attributed  to  the  shortening  of  sentences  or  to  the 
effect  of  improved  methods  of  identification. 

The  very  limited  success  of  imprisonment  as  a 
method  of  dealing  with  the  criminal  population  has 
led  to  a  considerable  diminution  of  its  application. 
It  is  being  supplanted  as  far  as  possible  by  other 
penalties.  Fines,  sureties,  the  probation  of  first 
offenders,  institutions  for  delinquent  juveniles,  are 
now  being  resorted  to  in  a  vast  number  of  cases 
17 


238  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

which  used  to  be  dealt  with  by  imprisonment.  But 
it  is  only  within  certain  limits  that  these  substitutes 
can  be  applied.  For  all  offences  of  a  serious  character 
imprisonment,  in  one  form  or  another,  is,  in  the 
present  condition  of  public  feeling,  the  only  practicable 
method  of  treatment.  In  these  circumstances  the 
problem  to  be  faced  is — How  to  make  imprisonment 
a  more  efficient  instrument  of  social  security. 

The  reaction  against  imprisonment  is  most  clearly 
exhibited  in  the  changes  which  have  recently  taken 
place  in  the  treatment  of  juvenile  offenders.  In 
England,  notwithstanding  the  increase  of  population, 
the  number  of  juveniles  committed  to  prison  has 
diminished  more  than  one-half  within  the  last  twenty 
years.  In  Scotland  the  number  has  diminished  more 
than  one-third.  On  the  Continent  one  of  the  questions 
which  is  agitating  the  minds  of  social  reformers  is  the 
question  of  an  effective  substitute  for  imprisonment 
in  the  case  of  juveniles.  The  diminution  in  the 
number  of  committals  of  young  people  to  prison 
in  Great  Britain  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  a  corre- 
sponding decrease  in  the  amount  of  juvenile  crime. 
It  is  in  great  measure  owing  to  an  alteration  in  our 
methods  of  dealing  with  delinquent  juveniles.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  imprisonment  is  a  very 
ineffective  method  of  dealing  with  the  youthful 
offender.  Once  he  has  seen  the  inside  of  a  prison 
his  dread  of  it  is  apt  to  disappear.  The  feelings  of 
awe  and  mystery  which  surround  his  ideas  of  prison 
life  are  lost  as  soon  as  he  has  had  a  few  days 
experience  of  its  realities.  Imprisonment  ceases  to 
have  an  intimidating  effect  upon  his  mind,  and  the 


IMPRISONMENT.  239 

check  which  punishment  is  believed  to  exercise  upon 
the  tendency  to  crime  is  gone.  "  The  fact  is  that  the 
hfe  of  many  children  of  the  class  from  which  criminals 
chiefly  spring  is  a  very  hard  one,  and  when  they  find 
that  in  jail  they  are  regularly  fed  and  comfortably 
housed  in  warm  cells,  that  they  are  not  starved,  or 
kicked,  or  beaten,  or  even  sworn  at,  and  that,  for 
children  at  least,  there  is  no  hard  work  or  harsh 
discipline  in  Scottish  prisons,  the  terror  vanishes 
with  which,  when  known  only  from  the  outside,  the 
prison  is  regarded,  and  the  salutary  deterrent  effect 
disappears."  These  are  the  words  of  the  Scotch  com- 
mittee appointed  to  inquire  into  the  best  methods  of 
dealing  with  young  offenders,  and  they  undoubtedly 
represent  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Inasmuch  as  imprisonment  is  such  an  ineffective 
method  of  penal  treatment  for  the  young,  it  follows 
that  children  of  tender  years  should  be  committed 
to  prison  as  seldom  as  possible.  Admitting  this  to 
be  established,  the  question  naturally  arises— At  what 
age  should  children  be  legally  liable  to  imprisonment? 
A  good  deal  of  diversity  exists  upon  this  point  in  the 
criminal  codes  of  civilised  communities.  According 
to  Canon  law  and  the  later  Roman  law  a  child  was 
not  punishable  till  he  had  completed  his  seventh  year. 
In  the  Italian  penal  code  a  child  cannot  be  punished 
till  he  has  completed  his  ninth  year,  and  ten  is  the 
age  of  penal  responsibility  in  Norway,  Denmark, 
Austria,  and  Holland.  In  the  German  Empire  the 
juvenile  must  have  completed  his  twelfth  year  before 
he  is  criminally  responsible.  In  France  and  Belgium 
no   a^^e  is  mentioned  in   the  penal  code  at  which  a 


240  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

child  is  necessarily  irresponsible.  The  question  of 
responsibility  or  irresponsibility  is  left  to  the  discretion 
of  the  judge.  Ministerial  circulars  were,  however, 
issued  to  the  French  judiciary  in  1855  and  1876  to 
the  effect  that  children  between  seven  and  eight  years 
of  age  should  not  be  prosecuted.  By  the  general  law 
of  England  a  child  under  the  age  of  seven  is  regarded 
as  incapable  of  committing  a  crime.  Between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  fourteen  a  child  is  still  presumed 
to  be  irresponsible.  But  he  may  be  proved  to  have 
sufficient  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong  to  make  him 
responsible.  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  certain 
number  of  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen  are 
annually  sent  to  prison  in  Great  Britain  both  before 
trial  and  also  after  conviction. 

Children  are  committed  to  prison  before  trial  with 
a  view  to  their  safe  custody  until  the  preparations  for 
their  trial  have  been  completed.  In  many  cases  these 
preparations  can  be  completed  in  a  very  short  time, 
but  cases  sometimes  occur  when  a  juvenile  may  have 
to  be  detained  for  a  considerable  period.  These  cases 
usually  arise  when  the  offence  is  of  such  a  serious 
character  that  it  cannot  be  dealt  with  by  a  court  of 
summary  jurisdiction.  It  can  only  be  tried  before 
a  superior  court,  and  inasmuch  as  the  higher  criminal 
courts  only  sit  at  considerable  intervals  the  juvenile 
has  to  stay  in  prison  till  these  sittings  commence. 
When  a  child  is  accused  of  a  grave  crime,  a  crime 
which  cannot  be  adjudicated  upon  by  an  ordinary 
magistrate,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  imprisonment 
before  trial  can  be  avoided.  Happily  the  number 
of  children  charged  with  serious  crime  is  exceedingly 


IMPRISONMENT.  24 1 

limited,  and  it  is  only  on  rare  occasions  that  juveniles 
under  the  age  of  fourteen  have  to  appear  before  the 
hitrher  criminal  tribunals. 

When  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen,  or  even 
under  the  age  of  sixteen,  are  charged  with  petty 
offences  which  are  within  the  competence  of  courts 
of  summary  jurisdiction,  it  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  child's  future  welfare  that  he  should 
not  be  committed  to  prison  pending  the  indispens- 
able preparations  for  his  trial.  Although  there  may 
be  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  deleterious 
effect  of  what  is  sometimes  called  the  prison   brand 

I  on  the  character  and  future  prospects  of  a  }'oung 
person,  there  is  entire  unanimity  as  to  the  desirability 
of  keeping  him  out  of  prison  as  long  as  it  is  possible 
to  do  so.  Imprisonment  should  always  be  the  last 
resort.     In    these    circumstances    the  question   arises 

V  as  to  what  is  to  be  done  with  juveniles  charged 
with  petty  offences  during  the  time  which  must  elapse 
between  their  arrest  and  their  conviction  or  acquittal. 
In  every  instance  a  certain  amount  of  time  must 
elapse  between  the  apprehension  of  an  offender  and 
his  trial.     In  some  cases  it  may  only  be  a  few  hours, 

f  in  other  cases  it  may  be  several  days.  Where  is  the 
accused  to  be  detained  in  the  inevitable  interval  ? 
This  question  is  a  very  pressing  one,  for  it  cannot 
be  said  that  our  present  methods  of  dealing  with 
children  under  remand  are  altogether  satisfactory. 

In  large  cities  where  courts  of  summary  jurisdiction 
are  in  the  habit  of  sitting  every  day,  or  almost  every 
day,  it  is  a  very  common  plan  to  detain  the  young 
oftender  in  the  police  cells  till  the  charge  is  heard. 


242  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

When  this  method  is  adopted,  and  in  many  cases 
it  is  the  most  convenient  method,  the  utmost  care 
should  be  taken  that  the  child  is  not  placed  in 
the  same  cell  with  other  prisoners  awaitin^^  trial. 
Association  of  this  undesirable  character  is  not  an  un- 
known thing.  At  the  sixth  conference  of  the  national 
Association  of  Industrial  and  Reformatory  Schools 
an  experienced  reformatory  school  manager  mentioned 
cases  of  it  which  had  come  within  his  own  experience. 
"  I  once  had  a  boy,"  he  said,  "  who  was  committed 
to  a  police  cell,  I  visited  him  and  found  him  in  the 
same  cell  with  a  thorough  ruffian — a  man  charged 
with  manslaughter,  but  which  amounted  almost  to 
murder — and  my  boy  was  incarcerated  with  this 
man  day  and  night.  I  had  another  instance  in 
which  a  boy  on  licence  was  committed  to  a  police 
cell,  and  he  was  in  company  with  two  persons  who 
had  been  convicted.  He  was  also  supplied  with 
spirits  by  his  mother  while  in  the  cell."  Abuses  of 
this  serious  character  are  probably  of  rare  occurrence, 
but  it  is  deplorable  to  think  that  they  have  taken 
place  at  all.  The  police  station  has  at  times  to  be 
used  as  a  place  of  detention  for  children  before  trial, 
but  when  it  is  used  for  this  purpose  it  should  be  an 
absolute  and  imperative  rule  that  the  accused  juvenile 
shall  be  placed  in  a  separate  cell. 

In  cases  where  an  accused  child  is  of  respectable 
parentage  and  is  amenable  to  parental  control  it  is 
frequently  sufficient  to  place  him  in  the  hands  of  his 
natural  guardians,  and  to  make  them  responsible  for 
his  safe  custody  till  the  day  of  trial  comes  round. 
This  method,  no  doubt,  entails  serious  responsibility 


IMPRISONMENT.  243 

upon  the  parent,  but  it  is  a  responsibility  which  parents 
who  have  the  welfare  of  their  children  at  heart  are 
perfectly   willing   and    even    anxious    to    bear.      Un- 
fortunately in  many  instances  it  is  a  method  which 
the    magistrate    cannot    resort    to,    inasmuch    as    a 
considerable  proportion  of  children  who  are  charged 
with  petty  delinquencies  belong  to  a  section  of  the 
population    who    have    bad    parents,    or    incapable 
parents,  or    perhaps  no    parents  at   all.     Where,   for 
one    reason    or   another,    children    under    accusation 
cannot  be  placed  in  the  custody  of  their  parents,  it 
is    sometimes    expedient    to    place    them    in    charge 
of    charitable    societies    connected    with    the    police 
courts,  such  as  police-court  missions.    These  excellent 
societies    might   at   the    same    time    be    utilised    for 
prosecuting    inquiries    into    the    circumstances    and 
antecedents  of  the  child.     In  some  cases  a  constable, 
or  a  private  person  of  known  respectability,  is  fit  to 
be  entrusted  with  the  care  of  children  under  remand. 
But  before  such  a  course  is  adopted  it  is  essential 
to  ascertain  that  such  persons  possess  proper  accom- 
modation.    Truant  schools  are  sometimes  mentioned 
as    suitable    places    of  detention    for  children   under 
remand.       But    these    institutions    are    too    few    in 
number    to    be    universally   suitable    for   such    cases. 
Besides,  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  introduce  children 
to  these  establishments  until  it  had  been  ascertained 
that  they  are  free  from  infectious  disease,  and  this  is 
a  proceeding  which  often  requires  time. 

When  children  under  remand  cannot  be  taken 
charge  of  by  parents  or  the  police  or  by  a  charitable 
society,  the  workhouse  is  at  present  the  only  alter- 


244  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.  li 

native.  Committal  of  these  cases  to  the  workhouse 
is  sometimes  objected  to  on  the  ground  that  work- 
houses are  institutions  for  the  poor  and  not  for 
persons  accused  of  offences  against  the  criminal  law. 
This  objection  would  no  doubt  possess  considerable 
force  if  the  accused  persons  were  adults  and  if  the 
offences  with  which  they  are  charged  were  of  a 
serious  character.  But  inasmuch  as  the  accused  are 
only  children,  and  as  the  charges  against  them  are  of 
a  comparatively  trifling  character,  the  objection  to 
their  temporary  detention  in  the  workhouse  loses 
much  of  its  force,  and  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a 
fatal  objection.  Another  objection  to  the  workhouse 
as  a  place  of  remand  is  that  many  of  the  guardians 
object  to  its  being  used  as  a  sort  of  prison.  But  this 
objection  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  serious  when  it 
is  recollected  that  it  is  used  as  a  place  of  temporary 
detention  for  vagrants  and  casuals.  If  children  under 
remand  for  petty  offences  were  not  destitute  and 
practically  friendless  they  would  remain  at  liberty  on 
bail  till  their  cases  were  disposed  of  in  the  courts  of 
justice.  But  the  fact  that  they  are  destitute  and 
friendless  should  not  and  cannot  be  used  as  a  reason 
for  shutting  the  workhouse  doors  against  them.  It 
is,  on  the  contrary,  the  most  powerful  reason  why 
these  doors  should  be  opened. 

In  workhouses  which  are  used  for  the  detention  of 
children  under  remand  a  special  ward  and  properly 
qualified  attendants  should  be  provided.  In  several 
workhouses  this  is  what  is  done.  "  In  the  Kensington 
Union,"  says  a  well-informed  correspondent  of  the 
Times   newspaper,  "  the  guardians,   recognising    the 


LMPRISONMENT.  245 

duty  imposed  upon  them  of  detaining  these  children 
in  safe  custody  and  at  the  same  time  the  danger  of 
evil  association  with  adult  paupers,  have  built  special 
quarters  for  this  class.  The  boys  have  a  sleeping- 
room  and  day-room,  &c.,  and  are  supervised  by  an 
official  assisted  by  a  respectable  elderly  pauper ; 
they  have  no  communication  with  either  adults  or 
boys  waiting  to  be  sent  to  school.  The  girls  have 
a  day-room  off  the  nursery,  where  a  paid  and 
trusted  nurse  can  keep  an  eye  on  them."  Unfor- 
tunately all  unions  are  not  administered  upon 
these  principles.  On  visiting  a  London  workhouse 
two  members  of  the  Poor  Law  School  Committee 
found  children  under  remand  living  under  the 
following  conditions.  "  In  one  room  fourteen  or 
fifteen  feet  square  and  eight  or  nine  feet  high  we 
found  six  boys.  There  were  no  tables,  no  chairs,  and 
they  were  eating  their  dinners  on  the  floor.  There 
were  no  books,  pictures,  or  playthings.  Only  six 
beds,  which  during  the  day  are  turned  up  on  end. 
For  washing  purposes  a  pail  was  brought  in.  The 
door  of  the  room  was  locked,  the  area  outside  being 
railed  in  at  the  top  to  prevent  the  boys  from  escaping. 
They  were  attended  night  and  day  by  a  young  pauper 
man,  who  had  been  an  inmate  for  two  weeks,  and 
was  frequently  in  and  out.  In  this  room  the  boys 
live,  wash,  eat,  sleep,  sometimes  for  three  weeks, 
sometimes  for  longer.  Last  week  there  were  fifteen 
lads  there,  and  then  the  matron  told  us  they  slept 
three  in  a  bed.  On  visiting  the  girls  we  found  they 
shared  the  receiving  ward  with  the  women.  In  a 
room   smaller  than   that   occupied    by  the   boys    we 


246  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

found  a  young  dissolute-looking  woman,  still  in  her 
rags,  who  had  just  come  in  from  the  streets.  Besides 
her  there  was  a  poor,  half-witted  creature  who  had 
been  in  the  receiving  ward  a  month,  because  she 
made  '  a  bother '  in  the  body  of  the  house.  These, 
with  others,  were  the  companions  of  the  remanded 
girls,  aged  twelve,  nine,  and  ten,  who  slept,  ate,  and 
lived  in  such  companionship." 

In  some  workhouses  the  authorities  have  so  little 
accommodation  for  children  under  remand  that  they 
are  obliged  to  take  their  clothes  off  and  put  them  to 
bed  to  prevent  them  from  absconding.  One  of  the 
principal  causes  of  this  unsatisfactory  condition  of 
things  is  that  there  is  no  provision  in  the  Poor  Law 
Acts  which  has  in  view  the  treatment  of  children 
under  remand.  It  is  only  since  the  Industrial 
Schools  Act  of  1866  came  into  operation  that  magis- 
trates possessed  the  power  of  sending  children  to 
workhouses  under  remand.  And  in  some  cases  the 
guardians  of  the  poor  do  not  consider  it  is  their  duty 
to  take  charge  of  children  remanded  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Industrial  Schools  Acts.  Most  of 
these  children  are  brought  before  the  magistrates  at 
the  instance  of  the  school  boards,  and  in  the  opinion 
of  the  poor  law  guardians  it  is  the  school  board 
authorities  which  should  undertake  the  responsibility 
of  detaining  them  till  the  cases  have  been  finally 
adjudicated  upon  by  the  courts.  But  whether  the 
custody  of  these  children  is  ultimately  entrusted  to 
the  poor  law  or  to  the  school  board,  it  is  of  the 
highest  importance  that  they  should  be  properly 
taken  care  of   in  the   interval    which    must    elapse 


IMPRISONMENT.  2\'J 

between  their  apprehension  and  their  trial  before  the 
magistrates. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  discussing  the  various 
methods  of  deaHng  with  children  before  conviction  ; 
the  question  of  the  treatment  of  children  after  con- 
viction still  remains  to  be  considered.  According  to 
English  law,  as  has  already  been  stated,  a  child  under 
the  age  of  seven  is  regarded  as  incapable  of  commit- 
ting a  crime.  It  is  looked  upon  as  not  having  reached 
such  a  stage  of  mental  maturity  as  would  justify 
society  in  holding  it  responsible  for  its  acts.  In  such 
cases  imprisonment,  or  any  other  punishment  by  a 
public  tribunal,  is  out  of  the  question.  It  may  be  a 
fitting  case  for  a  truant  school  or  an  industrial  school, 
but  it  is  not  a  case  for  penal  measures.  When  a  child 
is  over  the  age  of  seven  it  is  in  the  eye  of  the  English 
law  a  fit  subject  for  punishment,  and  may  even  be 
committed  to  a  prison  if  it  can  be  shown  that  it 
understands  its  own  acts  and  has  a  sufficient  know- 
ledge of  right  and  wrong.  "  Between  the  ages  of  seven 
and  fourteen,"  says  the  late  Mr.  Justice  Stephen,  "a 
child  is  presumed  to  be  irresponsible,  but  may  be 
proved  to  have  sufficient  knowledge  of  right  and 
wrong  to  make  him  responsible.  In  practice  this 
rule  is  tacitly  passed  over.  A  child  of  ten  or  twelve 
would  be  unusually  dull  if  it  did  not  know  that  it 
might  be  punished  for  stealing." 

It  is  perfectly  true,  as  Stephen  observes,  that  most 
children  between  the  ages  of  ten  or  twelve  are  aware 
that  they  may  be  punished  for  stealing  ;  but  a  wide 
experience  of  children  who  have  been  committed  to 
prison   for  stealing  convinces  me   that  a  large  pro- 


248  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

portion  of  them,  after  they  have  passed  the  age  of 
twelve,  do  not  reahse  that  they  will  be  committed  to 
prison  for  stealing.  These  children  in  all  cases  know 
that  the  act  of  stealing  is  wrong,  but  in  many  cases 
they  do  not  know  that  it  is  criminal.  They  have 
only  the  dimmest  notion  that  it  will  place  them  in 
the  hands  of  a  policeman,  that  it  will  bring  them 
before  a  judge,  and  that  it  will  involve  them  in  a 
period  of  imprisonment.  The  distinction  between 
what  is  wrong  and  what  is  criminally  wrong  does  not 
exist  in  the  minds  of  many  children  till  they  have 
passed  the  age  of  fourteen.  Few  juveniles  are  able 
to  discriminate  very  clearly  with  respect  to  the  com- 
parative gravity  of  offences,  and  in  many  instances 
they  do  not  grasp  the  difference  between  what  is 
merely  wrong  and  what  is  a  crime.  In  their  minds 
all  offences  are  classed  under  the  general  heading  of 
things  that  are  forbidden.  But  that  certain  forbidden 
things  will  entail  the  most  serious  consequences  on 
their  future  career  if  they  are  committed  does  not 
enter  into  their  calculations,  and  is  in  fact  beyond  the 
reach  of  their  faculties.  They  do  not  realise,  for 
instance,  the  damaging  and  perhaps  fatal  effect  which 
imprisonment  may  have  upon  their  prospects  in  the 
world.  The  only  point  in  connection  with  imprison- 
ment which  at  all  touches  them  is  its  immediate  dis- 
comforts. To  be  shut  up  in  a  strange  place,  to  be 
compelled  to  live  among  strange  surroundings,  to  be 
separated  from  their  home  or  their  family,  are  the 
only  things  which  concern  a  child  who  is  committed 
to  prison.  He  does  not  look,  and  is  incapable  of 
looking   beyond   the   moment   of  his   release.     The 


IMPRISONMENT.  249 

remote  consequences  of  imprisonment  in  the  shape 
of  casting  suspicion  on  his  character  and  lessening 
his  chance  of  employment  do  not  give  the  young 
prisoner  a  moment's  uneasiness.  Taking  these  facts 
into  consideration,  it  cannot  be  said  that  juveniles 
under  the  age  of  fourteen  have  an  adequate  know- 
ledge of  right  and  wrong,  inasmuch  as  they  do  not 
realise  the  disastrous  consequences  in  which  a  criminal 
act  will  involve  them. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  juvenile  responsi- 
bility another  point  also  requires  to  be  noticed. 
Intellectual  maturity  precedes  moral  maturity.  The 
growth  of  moral  ideas  and  sentiments  is  almost 
always  later  than  the  development  of  intellectual 
perceptions.  A  child  accordingly  acquires  the  know- 
ledge of  right  and  wrong  before  it  acquires  the 
corresponding  power  of  moral  restraint.  In  these 
circumstances  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  difference 
between  right  and  wrong  is  not  in  itself  a  sufficient 
test  of  criminal  responsibility  in  the  case  of  the  young. 
Before  criminal  responsibility  can  be  established  there 
must  be  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  maturity.  "  ATa- 
litia  supplet  (stateju "  is  a  well-known  maxim  in 
criminal  jurisprudence,  but  the  fact  that  moral  ideas 
are  of  considerably  later  growth  than  intellectual 
perceptions  renders  this  maxim  of  comparatively 
little  value  in  estimating  the  penal  capacity  of  the 
young. 

In  connection  with  the  imprisonment  of  children 
under  fourteen  it  is  to  be  observed  that  these  children 
are  still  of  school  age,  and  it  is  an  exceedingly  un- 
desirable thing  that  children,  after  suffering  a  sentence 


250  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

of  imprisonment,  should  have  to  return  to  the  ele- 
mentary school.  A  child  who  has  been  in  prison  is 
always  an  object  of  curiosity  and  often  of  admiration 
to  his  school  companions.  Even  if  the  young  ex- 
prisoner  exercises  no  evil  influence  personally,  the 
effect  of  the  fact  that  he  has  been  in  prison  has  a 
sort  of  fascination  on  the  minds  of  his  schoolmates, 
and  it  is  fortunate  if  his  exploits  are  not  imitated  by 
some  of  them.  Among  many  young  people  the 
desire  to  imitate  is  an  almost  irresistible  impulse,  and 
from  this  point  of  view  alone  it  is  highly  inexpedient 
that  children  under  fourteen  should  be  committed  to 
a  prison. 

If  it  is  necessary  in  the  interests  of  public  security 
that  juveniles  over  the  age  of  fourteen  should  be 
liable  to  imprisonment,  it  is  equally  essential  that 
prison  treatment  should  not  be  the  same  for  them  as 
for  adults.  Adults  have  reached  a  period  of  life 
when  bodily  and  mental  maturity  is  complete,  but 
this  cannot  be  said  of  juveniles  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  eighteen.  In  most  cases  these  young 
people  are  even  below  the  average  development  of 
juveniles  of  their  own  age  and  sex,  and  most  of  them 
become  delinquents  owing  to  an  unhappy  combina- 
tion of  adverse  individual  and  social  circumstances. 
A  short  time  ago  I  had  occasion  to  point  out  to  a 
committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  administra- 
tion of  English  prisons,  that  the  majority  of  young 
prisoners  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen 
are  below  the  average  in  weight  and  stature  of 
artisan  population  in  towns,  as  well  as  of  the  general 
population.     It  is  also  certain    that    many  of  these 


IMPRISONMENT.  25 1 

young  people  fall  into  criminal  habits  because  they 
are  unable  to  do  an  ordinary  day's  work.  On  this 
account  employers  of  labour  often  discharge  them, 
and  if  they  live  in  towns  and  find  themselves  without 
the  elementary  means  of  subsistence  they  very  soon 
drift  into  prison.  In  their  case  what  is  wanting  is  a 
physical  foundation  which  will  enable  them  to  per- 
form the  ordinary  duties  of  industrial  life.  If  they 
are  defective  in  this  respect,  and  if  prison  dietary 
is  framed  on  such  a  scale  that  it  is  calculated  to  sub- 
vert their  physical  capacity,  the  effect  of  imprisonment 
is  certain  to  be  disastrous. 

When  mere  physical  weakness  is  the  cause  of  social 
failure  and  the  origin  of  offences  against  the  criminal 
law,  surely  the  way  to  put  a  stop  to  these  offences  does 
not  consist  in  making  the  offender  still  more  unfit  for 
the  stress  and  strain  of  industrial  life.  Imprisonment 
unquestionably  has  this  effect  in  all  cases  where 
the  imprisoned  juvenile  is  underfed.  Whatever  form 
punishment  may  take  it  ought  not  to  take  the  form 
of  underfeeding  the  prisoner  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  is  too  weak  to  do  a  day's  work  when  he  is  restored 
to  liberty.  Punishment  of  this  character  defeats  its 
own  ends.  It  appeases  the  desire  for  retaliation  and 
revenge,  but  it  accomplishes  no  other  result.  All 
forms  of  punishment  which  reduce  the  physical 
strength  of  the  prisoner  directly  tend  to  transform 
him  into  an  habitual  criminal.  These  punishments 
cripple  his  efforts  to  re-enter  the  ranks  of  honest 
industry.  The  only  way  in  which  a  juvenile  released 
from  prison  can  live  in  honesty  is  by  manual  labour 
and  as  a  rule  it  is  only  the  hardest  and  the  roughest 


252  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

kind  of  manual  labour  which  such  a  youth  can 
obtain.  In  three  cases  out  of  four  he  has  not  been 
taught  the  rudiments  of  a  trade,  and  if  he  has  it  is 
exceedingly  difficult  for  him  to  get  employment  at 
it  after  he  has  suffered  the  disgrace  of  imprisonment. 
This  means  that  he  has  to  begin  life  again  as  a  day 
labourer  at  some  unskilled  employment.  Employ- 
ment of  this  kind  involves  a  severe  strain  on  the 
physical  energies,  and  if  the  severities  of  imprison-  j 
ment  are  calculated  to  unfit  the  prisoner  for  enduring 
the  strain  of  a  hard  day's  work,  it  has  the  inevitable 
effect  of  forcing  him  back  into  the  ranks  of  crime. 

It  is  not  enough,  as  is  sometimes  supposed,  to  send 
a  juvenile  away  from  prison  in  the  same  physical 
condition  as  when  he  entered  it.  In  the  sad  history 
of  the  young  offender  imprisonment  is  often  the 
final  stage  of  a  long  series  of  privations.  Often 
homeless  and  friendless,  thousands  of  these  young 
people  pass  through  all  sorts  of  bitter  trials  and 
hardships  before  they  ultimately  reach  the  criminal 
court  and  the  prison  cell.  In  most  cases  they  are 
not  actually  suffering  from  disease,  but  they  are  often 
feeble,  listless,  and  emaciated,  and  if  they  are  allowed 
to  leave  the  prison  in  the  same  wretched  condition 
as  when  they  entered  it,  it  will  be  physically  im- 
possible for  them  to  do  a  hard  day's  work  even  when 
it  is  offered  them.  Among  the  causes  which  are 
augmenting  the  proportions  of  recidivism  and  turning 
such  a  large  proportion  of  occasional  criminals  into 
habitual  criminals,  an  important  place  must  be 
assigned  to  the  feeble  physical  condition  in  which 
so    many  short-sentence   prisoners  leave   the  prison 


IMPHISONMENT.  253 

cell.  It  is  possible  that  a  prison  system  which  is 
conducted  on  the  principle  of  giving  an  inadequate 
supply  of  food  to  offenders  under  short  sentences 
might  be  unobjectionable  if  the  prisoner  had  a  home 
to  go  to  and  friends  to  support  him  for  a  week  or  so 
after  his  release.  In  such  circumstances  the  dis- 
charged prisoner  would  have  a  little  time  to  recruit 
before  he  again  resumed  his  ordinary  occupations. 
But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  large  proportion  of  ex- 
prisoners  have  no  home  to  go  to  and  no  friends  to 
assist  them  when  they  leave  the  prison  gates.  If 
they  are  not  to  drift  back  into  prison  they  must  not 
only  be  able  to  get  work  immediately  but  also  be  fit 
to  do  it. 

It  is  often  stated  by  employers  of  labour  that  dis- 
charged prisoners  are  not  fit  to  do  an  ordinary  day's 
work.  Many  of  the  cases  which  are  recorded  as 
failures  in  the  proceedings  of  discharged  prisoners' 
aid  societies  are  failures  owing  to  the  physical  in- 
capacity of  the  released  prisoner  to  do  the  work  in 
an  efficient  manner  which  has  been  procured  for  him. 
In  some  instances  no  doubt  it  is  the  want  of  will 
rather  than  the  want  of  power,  but  in  a  considerable 
number  of  cases  the  real  cause  of  failure  is  physical 
and  not  mental  incapacity.  It  is  often  assumed  in 
connection  with  the  discharged  prisoner  that  the  only 
difficulty  to  be  contended  against  is  the  difficulty  of 
finding  work  for  him.  This  undoubtedly  is  a  great 
difficulty,  and  it  is  not  always  easy  to  overcome  it; 
but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  it  is  the  only  difficulty. 
After  the  difficulty  of  procuring  work  for  a  discharged 

prisoner  has  been  solved  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  a 
18 


254  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

certain  percentage  of  them  are  unable  to  work.  Many 
of  those  who  are  hastily  classed  as  unwilling  are  in 
reality  unable. 

Inability  to  work  arises  from  several  causes.    Many 
ex-prisoners  are  unable  to  work  because  they  have 
never    been    accustomed    to    a    life   of   steady    and 
continuous    occupation.      Habits    of  industry,    it    is 
well    known,    are    the    product    of   time,    and    large 
numbers  of  prisoners  grow  up  to    maturity  without 
acquiring   these    habits.     Unless    they    are  acquired 
in  youth  it  is  difficult  to  acquire  them  at  all.     And 
the    reason    many    an    ex-prisoner    cannot    keep    in 
work    is    owing    to    the    circumstance    that    he    has 
never    been    exercised   in    regular,  settled,  industrial 
habits  in  his  early  days.     The  regularity,  the  punctu- 
ality, the  mechanical  sameness  of  a  settled  occupation 
are  more  than  he  has  been  accustomed  to  endure  and 
more  than  he  can  endure.     He  prefers  the  uncertain- 
ties and  privations  of  an  unstable,  irregular,  unsettled 
existence.      This  is  the  kind  of  existence  in  which 
he  has  grown  up  to  maturity.      When  the   yoke  of 
industry  is  put  upon  him  it  is  often  too  late  in  life. 
He  finds  it   intolerable,  and   drifts   back  into  crime. 
Cases    of  this   kind    are    usually   looked    at   from    a 
superficial  point  of  view,  and  are  sometimes  referred 
to  as  instances  of  innate  criminal  perversity.     I  am 
not  concerned  to  deny  that  cases  of  innate  criminal 
perversity  may  exist  and   probably  do  exist.      But 
these  cases  are  not  so  numerous  as  is  often  supposed. 
A   careful   examination    of  the   early   records   of  a 
criminal  career  often  shows  that  the  hardened,  habitual 
criminal  who  persists  in  a  criminal  mode  of  life  has 


IMPRISONMENT.  2$$ 

never  had  any  industrial  discipline  in  his  youth. 
This  discipline  proves  too  galling  for  him  when  he 
becomes  a  man.  It  upsets  all  his  previous  habits  of 
existence.  Tracing  back  the  evil  to  its  ultimate 
source,  we  see  that  such  a  man  has  become  a  criminal 
because  he  has  not  passed  through  a  regular  course 
of  industrial  discipline  at  the  period  of  life  when 
habits  are  formed.  The  responsibility  for  this  neglect 
does  not  rest  upon  the  criminal  but  upon  those  whose 
duty  it  was  to  prepare  him  for  the  tasks  of  life.  The 
responsibility  rests  upon  their  shoulders  but  the  retri- 
bution falls  upon  him,  and  regarded  from  this  point 
of  view  he  is  to  be  pitied  as  much  as  blamed. 

The  want  of  industrial  discipline  being  one  of  the 
reasons  why  the  liberated  prisoner  cannot  retain  work 
after  it  has  been  procured  for  him,  the  only  way  to 
remedy  this  defect  in  the  case  of  juveniles  is  to  make 
prison  discipline,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  counterpart 
of  industrial  discipline.  The  juvenile  during  the 
period  of  his  detention  in  prison  should  be  subjected 
to  the  same  hours  of  labour,  the  same  habits  of 
industry,  the  same  kind  of  industry,  in  short,  the  same 
sort  of  regulations  and  occupations  as  prevail  in  well- 
ordered  manufacturing  and  commercial  establishments 
in  the  outside  world.  If  this  principle  was  made  the 
basis  of  the  prison  treatment  of  juveniles  it  would 
give  them  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  habits  and 
capacities  calculated  to  enable  them  to  perform  an 
average  day's  work  and  to  retain  employment  when 
it  had  been  found.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  habits 
acquired  under  compulsion  are  not  quite  the  same  as 
habits  acquired  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom.     It  is 


256  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

possible  that  such  habits  are  more  Hkely  to  be  dis- 
carded when  the  pressure  of  compulsion  is  removed. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  an 
element  of  compulsion  is  connected  with  the  acqui- 
sition of  almost  all  civilised  habits.  No  matter  under 
what  conditions  habits  of  industry  have  been  acquired, 
the  acquisition  of  them  is  the  paramount  object, 
and  must  have  a  wholesome  effect  on  character  and 
conduct.  The  probability  that  industrial  life  will 
be  honestly  and  strenuously  embraced  by  the  ex- 
prisoner  is  vastly  increased  when  a  life  of  this  descrip- 
tion is  no  longer  strange  and  irksome  to  him. 

If  these  principles  of  prison  treatment  were  put 
into  operation  the  character  of  imprisonment  would 
be  considerably  altered  and  imprisonment  would 
become  a  much  more  severe  discipline  to  the  young 
offender  than  it  is  now.  The  prison  cell,  with  its 
blankness,  its  silence,  its  monotony,  its  almost  com- 
plete exclusion  of  the  external  world  and  its  realities, 
reproduce  in  a  truly  marvellous  way  the  blankness, 
the  deadness,  the  immobility,  the  lethargy  of  the 
prisoner's  own  mind.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  outward  repre- 
sentation of  the  prisoner's  inward  mental  existence. 
It  nurses  and  accentuates  the  class  of  defects  which 
characterise  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  criminal 
population,  and  which  must  be  got  rid  of  if  the 
prisoner  is  to  become  a  useful  member  of  the  com- 
munity when  his  term  of  detention  has  expired. 
Cellular  imprisonment  is  not  the  sort  of  detention 
which  the  majority  of  prisoners  would  deliberately 
choose  if  they  were  allowed  the  opportunity  of  choice 
in  such  a  matter.     But  inasmuch  as  it  is  such  a  close 


IMPRISON.\JEN  T.  257 

reproduction  of  the  listless,  aimless,  mindless,  apathetic 
existence  in  which  the  offender  lives  in  the  outside 
world,  it  does  not  affect  him  with  an  acute  feeling  of 
discomfort,  and  he  passes  away  his  time  in  a  kind  of 
waking  dream.  .\  course  of  industrial  discipline 
would  be  the  very  opposite  of  all  this.  It  would 
stimulate  and  rouse  and  animate  the  sluggish  mental 
and  physical  faculties  of  the  prisoner.  It  would 
quicken  the  dormant  activities  of  the  hand  and 
brain.  It  would  compel  mental  energy  to  run  into 
new  channels,  and  physical  energy  to  manifest  itself 
in  new  modes  of  activity.  All  this  is  highly  dis- 
tasteful to  the  average  juvenile  prisoner.  It  involves 
effort  and  exertion  on  his  part  in  entirely  new  direc- 
tions. The  necessity  for  being  attentive,  observant, 
industrious,  is  a  new  and  a  painful  experience.  It  is 
a  far  more  severe  discipline  to  the  young  delinquent 
than  the  most  rigid  cellular  confinement.  It  produces 
a  far  keener  sense  of  discomfort  than  the  mere  negative 
existence  of  the  prison  cell. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  to  do  much  in  the  way 
of  providing  industrial  occupation  for  juveniles  com- 
mitted to  prison  for  very  short  periods.  But  in  this 
connection  the  question  arises  whether  it  is  wise  to 
send  juveniles  to  prison  at  all  when  the  offence  is  so 
trifling  that  it  can  be  purged  by  a  (ew  days'  or  a  few 
weeks'  imprisonment.  In  such  cases  it  would  be  well 
to  adopt  some  different  kind  of  penalty.  It  is  true 
the  existing  substitutes  for  imprisonment  soon  become 
exhausted,  and  the  magistrate  is  compelled  to  resort 
to  it  although  he  is  aware  that  it  is  of  little  or  no 
use.      But   surely   it   is    not   beyond    the    power    of 


258  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

criminal  jurisprudence  to  add  materially  to  the 
number  of  substitutes  for  imprisonment.  It  is  often 
supposed  that  the  manifest  failure  of  short  sentences 
is  an  argument  for  longer  sentences.  But  this  is  not 
the  case.  The  failure  of  short  periods  of  detention 
in  prison  is  an  argument  against  imprisonment 
altogether  and  the  substitution  of  some  other 
penalty  when  the  offence  is  of  a  trifling  character. 
Very  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  the  total  committals  to 
prison  in  England  and  Wales  consist  of  cases  in 
which  the  offender  is  sent  to  prison  for  a  week  or 
less.  A  considerable  proportion  of  these  short-sen- 
tence cases  is  composed  of  young  people.  This 
arises  from  the  circumstance  that  juveniles  are  often 
unable  to  pay  a  fine  and  are  obliged  to  submit  to  the 
alternative  of  a  few  days'  imprisonment.  If  the 
criminal  law  provided  a  greater  variety  of  alternative 
penalties  for  slight  offences  a  vast  number  of  petty 
cases  would  not  require  to  be  dealt  with  by  imprison- 
ment at  all.  Imprisonment  under  the  very  best  of 
systems  is  accompanied  by  a  certain  number  of 
inevitable  dangers  while  it  lasts,  and  is  followed  by 
serious  drawbacks  after  it  has  expired.  Wherever 
an  alternative  penalty  can  be  adopted  as  a  substitute 
it  is  a  clear  gain  to  the  community  as  well  as  to  the 
delinquent. 

When  imprisonment  has,  unfortunately,  to  be 
resorted  to  in  the  treatment  of  the  juvenile  offender 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  he  should  not 
be  cut  off  for  prolonged  periods  from  all  communi- 
cation with  his  relatives  in  the  outside  world.  In 
cases  where  the  delinquent  juvenile  is  not  absolutely 


IMPRISONMENT.  259 

friendless  and  homeless  it  is  very  often  found  that 
his  downward  career  has  begun  by  breaking  off  all 
communication  with  his  home.  In  large  cities  young 
people,  when  they  reach  the  age  of  sixteen,  and 
sometimes  before  reaching  that  age,  become  economi- 
cally independent  of  their  parents.  Their  wages  are 
sufficiently  high  to  enable  them  to  maintain  them- 
selves. The  result  of  this  is  that  when  disputes 
and  disagreements  arise  at  home  these  juveniles 
readily  leave  the  parental  roof  and  cut  themselves 
adrift  from  the  restraining  influences  of  family  life. 
They  thus  find  themselves  in  the  wide  world  without 
friends  or  counsellors,  or  a  temporary  retreat  if  work 
for  a  time  should  happen  to  fail  them.  Juveniles  in 
this  perilous  position  often  get  into  contact  with 
undesirable  companions.  They  sink  down  in  the 
social  scale,  irregular  habits  are  contracted,  employ- 
ment is  lost,  desperate  courses  are  resorted  to,  and 
they  ultimately  find  themselves  in  prison. 

One  of  the  first  steps  to  be  taken  in  the  restoration 
of  these  young  people  is  to  induce  them  to  enter  once 
more  into  cordial  relationship  with  their  families;  To 
reconcile  them  to  their  father  or  mother,  or  to 
reconcile  the  father  or  mother  to  them,  is  practically 
to  save  them  from  a  broken  life  and  often  from  a 
career  of  crime.  Impediments  in  the  shape  of  prison 
regulations  which  forbid,  or  practically  forbid,  com- 
munication for  prolonged  periods  between  parent  and 
child  in  circumstances  of  this  kind  are  nothing  short 
of  iniquitous.  Regulations  of  this  kind  betray  a 
complete  want  of  knowledge  of  the  effect  of  prison 
life  upon  the  young.     The  adaptability  of  the  young 


26o  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

mind  to  altered  circumstances  is  such  that  long  before 
three  months  have  passed  away  the  juvenile  prisoner 
has  become  quite  accustomed  to  his  surroundings. 
Prison  routine  has  been  learned,  prison  habits  have 
been  formed,  the  worst  has  been  endured,  the  prison 
has  ceased  to  terrify  or  alarm.  When  this  state  has 
been  reached,  and  it  is  wonderful  how  quickly  it  is 
reached,  the  young  prisoner  resumes  the  mental 
attitude  towards  his  family  which  he  had  before  he 
was  convicted  ;  the  favourable  moment  for  effecting 
a  reconciliation  between  him  and  them  has  passed 
away. 

The  most  favourable  opportunity  for  work  of  this 
kind  is  the  moment  when  imprisonment  begins. 
It  is  at  this  moment  that  self-confidence  is  shattered, 
that  the  feeling  of  dejection  is  deepest,  that  the 
desire  to  seek  relief  and  consolation  by  renewing 
the  ties  of  home  is  most  keenly  felt.  But,  strange  to 
say,  this  is  the  very  time  when  some  prison  systems 
practically  forbid  communication  with  home.  All 
communication  is  forbidden  in  deference  to  a  mere 
doctrinaire  idea  that  every  prisoner  shall  be  subjected 
to  the  severest  possible  hardships  when  he  first  enters 
the  prison  cell.  Common  sense  and  experience  teach 
us  that  the  sacred  memories  of  family  life  are  most 
vivid  in  times  of  trouble  and  distress.  It  is  at  those 
times  that  the  bonds  of  family  affection  become  the 
most  powerful  instruments  of  moral  and  spiritual 
reform.  But  the  use  of  these  highly  moralising 
agencies  is  not  allowed  in  deference  to  an  absurd 
pedantry  which  knows  nothing  of  the  workings  of 
the  human  heart.     In  all  establishments  where  a  con- 


IMPRISONMENT.  26 1 

siderable  number  of  human  beings  are  collected 
together  it  is  impossible  to  manage  affairs  without 
regulations  of  some  kind.  But  in  cases  where  the 
treatment  of  human  character  is  concerned  the 
regulations  should  consist  of  a  few  general  principles 
which  are  to  be  observed  ;  they  should  never  assume 
the  form  of  hard-and-fast  commands. 

One  of  the  difficulties  of  dealing  successfully  with 
juveniles  committed  to  prison  is  that  prisons  are 
primarily  constructed  for  the  detention  of  adults. 
Prison  regulations,  prison  labour,  the  prison  staff, 
prison  buildings,  are  all  intended  in  the  first  instance 
for  grown-up  people.  Modifications  of  the  system 
are  introduced  to  meet  the  case  of  juveniles,  but 
these  modifications  do  not  alter  its  fundamental 
character.  In  all  its  essential  features  the  prison 
still  remains  a  place  for  grown-up  people  and  not 
for  the  young.  The  general  tone  and  temper  of  the 
administration  is  not  adapted  to  the  young,  and  in 
the  end  the  effect  of  imprisonment  for  good  or  evil 
is  not  to  be  measured  by  rules  drawn  up  on  bits  of 
paper,  but  by  the  spirit  in  which  these  rules  are 
administered.  The  existence  of  this  state  of  things 
constitutes  a  plea  for  special  places  of  detention  for 
juveniles.  No  doubt  this  would  be  the  best  solution 
of  the  matter  if  the  practical,  or  rather  the  financial, 
difficulties  were  not  so  great.  In  the  very  largest 
centres  of  population,  such  as  London,  it  would 
be  possible  to  have  establishments  constructed  for 
juveniles,  and  for  them  alone.  But,  except  in  these 
very  huge  centres,  establishments  of  this  character 
would    not  be  feasible,  owing   to  the  fact  that   the 


262  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

juvenile  portion  of  the  prison  population  is  too 
limited  to  warrant  the  expenditure  which  such  a 
plan  would  necessarily  involve. 

In  most  cases  juveniles  and  adults  must  con- 
tinue to  be  committed  to  the  same  prisons.  The 
only  way  to  mitigate  the  evils  involved  in  this 
condition  of  affairs  is  to  separate  the  two  classes  of 
prisoners  as  far  as  possible,  and  to  assign  the  care 
of  juvenile  prisoners  to  specially  selected  officers.  It 
would  be  the  special  duty,  and  wherever  possible  the 
exclusive  duty,  of  these  officers  to  supervise  juvenile 
prisoners.  Where  prison  officers  are  to-day  entrusted 
with  the  task  of  looking  after  men  and  to-morrow 
with  the  task  of  looking  after  boys  the  best  results 
do  not  ensue.  In  dealing  with  men,  what  may  be 
called  a  disciplinary  attitude  has  to  be  exhibited  ; 
in  dealing  with  juveniles,  an  educative  temper  is 
required.  It  is  difficult  for  the  ordinary  official  to 
change  suddenly  from  the  one  temper  to  the  other. 
It  is  not  often  that  the  same  man  has  sufficient 
mental  flexibility  to  combine  both.  On  this  account, 
as  well  as  for  other  reasons,  the  young  prisoner 
should  as  far  as  practicable  be  placed  in  charge  of 
officers  exclusively  devoted  to  the  task.  These 
officers  should  be  carefully  selected,  and  should,  as 
a  rule,  consist  of  men  who  have  children  of  their 
own.  A  proper  classification  of  the  prison  popula- 
tion is  one  of  the  supreme  objects  of  all  modern 
prison  treatment.  But  this  object  is  practically  de- 
feated unless  the  classification  of  prisoners  is  accom- 
panied by  a  corresponding  classification  of  the  prison 
staff.     The  classification  of  the  prison  population  in- 


IMPRISONMENT.  263 

volves  the  specialisation  of  the  prison  staff.  If  this 
fundamental  principle  is  overlooked  classification 
becomes  comparatively  worthless 

The  end  of  imprisonment  is  liberty,  and  the  most 
perilous  period  in  a  young  prisoner's  life  is  the  day 
on  which  his  detention  expires.  All  prisoners  of 
whate\'er  age  look  forward  with  a  feeling  of  joy  to 
the  hour  of  their  liberation  ;  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  most 
critical  time  for  them,  and  is  beset  on  many  sides  by 
peculiar  trials  and  dangers.  As  long  as  a  prisoner  is 
shut  up  within  the  narrow  compass  of  his  cell  he  is 
protected  against  the  temptations  which  have  proved 
so  fatal  to  him  in  the  outside  world.  But  as  soon  as 
he  is  at  liberty  these  temptations  reappear  in  all  their 
old  vitality,  and  the  liberated  prisoner  is  in  a  very 
bad  condition  for  resisting  them.  To  a  person  who 
has  been  subjected  even  for  a  short  period  to  all  the 
artificial  restraints  of  prison  life,  and  whose  liberty  of 
action  has  been  cramped  in  so  many  directions,  it  is 
a  trying  ordeal  to  be  suddenly  exposed  to  the  full 
light  of  unrestricted  liberty.  It  is  a  well-established 
axiom  that  servitude  in  whatever  form  has  the  effect 
of  unfitting  men  for  freedom.  A  condition  which  has 
such  disastrous  results  on  the  ordinary  man  is  even 
more  fatal  to  a  prisoner.  He  is  usually  a  person  of 
feeble  will  and  character,  and  the  sudden  acquisition 
of  liberty  after  a  course  ot  galling  bondage  is  more 
than  his  nature  can  endure.  The  sudden  transform- 
ation unbalances  him,  intoxicates  him,  dazes  and 
bewilders  him.  He  reels  to  and  fro  like  a  drunken 
man.  His  powers  of  self-restraint  are  temporarily 
paralysed,    and    before    he    can    recover    the    normal 


264  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

\ 
I 

attitude  of  a  freeman  he  acrain  finds  himself  in  ihe 
clutches  of  the  criminal  law. 

It  is  the  first  few  weeks  of  liberty  which  is  the  ii 
period  of  greatest  danger  for  the  juvenile  prisoner, 
and  in  fact  for  all  prisoners.  If  he  is  able  to  pass 
through  this  critical  period  in  safety  it  is  probable 
that  he  may  afterwards  settle  down  into  a  law-abiding 
citizen.  It  is  imperative  that  these  facts  should  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  determining  the  nature 
of  prison  treatment.  Imprisonment  should  never  be 
conducted  on  such  a  footing  that  it  unfits  the  prisoner 
for  liberty.  It  fails  in  one  of  its  most  essential  pur- 
poses if  it  terminates  in  such  a  deplorable  result. 
Imprisonment  should  be  a  gradual  preparation  for 
liberty.  It  should  be  organised  on  such  a  principle 
that  the  contrast  between  detention  and  liberty  will 
not  be  too  great  when  the  day  of  liberation  at  last 
arrives.  The  tension  of  restraint  should  be  relaxed 
as  time  goes  on.  The  circle  in  which  the  prisoner 
is  allowed  to  move  at  will  should  be  gradually  en- 
larged. If  this  principle  is  acted  upon  the  faculties 
which  the  prisoner  requires  in  a  state  of  freedom  will 
have  some  preliminary  exercise.  In  prison  these  facul- 
ties are  practically  dormant,  and  when  the  prisoner  is 
liberated  and  the  need  has  arisen  for  using  them  they 
will  not  respond  to  his  call. 

In  the  treatment  of  a  prisoner,  and  in  the  regula- 
tions affecting  him,  the  fact  is  not  sufficiently  borne 
in  mind  that  he  is  a  person  who  will  one  day  be 
at  liberty.  If  he  is  treated  in  prison  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  render  him  unfit  for  liberty,  the 
punishment    inflicted    upon    him    is    altogether   out 


IMPRISONMENT.  265 

of  proportion  to  the  offence.  The  sentence  of  the 
judge  may  only  be  a  sentence  of  six  months' 
detention,  but  if  a  prisoner  during  that  period  is 
unfitted  for  hberty  at  the  moment  of  his  release  the 
sentence  is  not  a  sentence  of  six  months'  detention, 
it  is  a  sentence  which  dooms  the  man  to  the  life 
of  an  habitual  criminal.  The  severity  of  a  sentence 
depends  upon  its  nature  as  well  as  upon  its  duration, 
and  a  short  sentence,  owing  to  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  carried  into  effect,  may  mean  the  transformation 
of  a  comparatively  harmless  offender  into  a  criminal 
for  life.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  habitual 
criminal  is  in  far  too  many  cases  a  product  of  prison 
treatment,  a  victim  of  vicious  and  unsound  methods 
of  dealing  with  the  convicted  population.  The  value 
of  prison  regulations  is  not  to  be  tested,  as  is  too 
often  assumed,  by  the  behaviour  of  prisoners  within 
the  prison  walls.  The  value  of  these  regulations 
must  be  tested  by  their  beneficent  effect  upon  the 
prisoner  when  he  is  restored  to  liberty.  In  other 
words,  prison  treatment  is  successful  in  so  far  as  it 
results  in  preventing  the  ex-prisoner  from  returning 
to  a  life  of  crime. 

In  order  to  minimise  the  evil  effects  of  prison  life 
and  gradually  pave  the  way  for  liberty  the  principle 
of  conditional  liberation  should  be  extensively  utilised 
in  the  treatment  of  juvenile  offenders.  Conditional 
liberation  bridges  the  gulf  between  imprisonment  and 
absolute  liberty.  It  minimises  the  rebound  from 
servitude,  and  provides  the  prisoner  with  an  oppor- 
tunity of  regaining  his  mental  balance.  If  this  sys- 
tem is  conducted  upon  proper  principles  it  reduces 


266  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

the  risk  of  the  discharged  prisoner  relapsing  into 
crime.  One  of  the  principal  causes  which  hampers 
the  efficiency  of  societies  for  assisting  prisoners  on 
release  is  the  absence  of  a  properly  constituted  sys- 
tem of  conditional  liberation.  Under  existing  cir- 
cumstances  a  prisoners'  aid  society  has  no  control 
over  the  discharged  prisoner  at  the  moment  when 
control  is  most  required.  The  society  may  have  pro- 
vided him  with  work,  with  tools,  with  clothing,  in 
short,  with  every  industrial  requisite,  but  if  the  ex- 
prisoner  should  suddenly  leave  his  work  or  pawn 
his  tools  the  society  which  has  done  so  much  to 
set  him  on  his  feet  is  absolutely  helpless.  It  has  no 
legal  hold  upon  him.  His  punishment  is  over.  His 
period  of  detention  has  expired.  He  is  at  perfect 
liberty  to  give  up  his  work,  or  sell  his  tools,  or  do 
whatever  he  chooses  so  long  as  he  refrains  from  com- 
mitting a  fresh  offence  against  the  criminal  law. 
Under  a  properly  organised  system  of  conditional 
liberation  it  would  be  impossible  for  an  ex-prisoner 
to  undo  the  work  of  these  charitable  societies  with 
impunity.  Instead  of  being  liberated  absolutely  he 
would  only  be  liberated  on  condition  that  he  sub- 
mitted himself  to  control  for  a  certain  period  after 
his  release  from  prison.  If  the  conditions  on  which 
liberation  was  granted  were  not  fulfilled  it  would  be 
in  the  power  of  the  society  which  assisted  him  to 
procure  his  rearrest.  In  reformatory  schools  con- 
ditional liberation,  or  liberation  on  licence,  as  it  is 
called,  has  been  in  operation  for  many  years,  and 
works,  on  the  whole,  with  excellent  results.  The 
managers  of  reformatory  schools  possess  the  power 


IMPRISONMENT.  26/ 

of  liberating  a  juvenile  before  the  legal  duration  of 
detention   has  expired,  and    of  placing   him    in    the 
hands  of  a   trustworthy  and  respectable  person  who 
is  willing  to  take  charge  of  him.    A  somewhat  similar 
power  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  competent 
authority  for   the    conditional    liberation    of    young 
prisoners.      There    is   every    reason    to    believe    that 
such    a    system    would    work    as    efficiently    in    the 
treatment  of  young  prisoners  as  it  now  does  in  con- 
nection with  the  treatment  of  juveniles  committed  to 
reformatory  institutions.     If  conditional  liberation  is 
applicable    to    the    reformatory    boy    it    is    equally 
applicable    to  the   juvenile    prisoner.     If   it    can    be 
worked    in  the  one  case,  it   can    be  worked    in    the 
other.      The    power   of  supervising   and    controlling 
the  conditionally  liberated  juvenile  would  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  society  which  undertook  to   find    him 
occupation.     It  would  in  many  cases  be  necessary  to 
extend  the  power  of  supervision  beyond   the   limits 
of  the    sentence  to    imprisonment.     But    this    is    no 
novelty  to  the  criminal  law.     It  is  a  common  occur- 
rence for  an  offender  to  be  sentenced  to  a  definite 
period  of  police  supervision,  to  begin  when  his  im- 
prisonment has  expired.     In  the  case  of  juveniles  the 
supervision  of  a  charitable  society  would  be  substi- 
tuted, and  it  is  certain  that  if  such  a  society  were  to 
exercise  its  powers  with  vigilance  and  discretion    it 
w^ould  succeed  in  rescuing  hundreds  of  young  people 
who   are    otherwise    destined    to    become    habitual 
criminals. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS. 

Crime  cannot  be  suppressed  by  intimidation — The  certainty  of 
punishment  does  not  suppress  crime — The  experience  of  punish- 
ment does  not  deter — Why  punishment  is  ineffective — Punish- 
ment does  not  remove  the  conditions  which  produce  crime — 
The  ameliorative  method  of  deaHng  with  juvenile  crime — 
The  principle  on  which  it  rests — The  practical  application  of 
the  principle  by  voluntary  societies — The  practical  application 
of  educative  methods  by  the  State  —  State  institutions  for 
juvenile  offenders  in  Great  Britain — Population  of  these  insti- 
tutions— Cost  of  juvenile  institutions — Effect  on  crime  of  institu- 
tions for  juvenile  offenders — Prison  population — Committal  to 
prison — Cases  of  Scotland  and  the  United  States — The  increase 
or  decrease  of  crime  is  not  entirely  dependent  on  the  juvenile 
population — Large  cities  produce  crime — Economic  vicissitudes 
produce  it — Crime  may  increase  in  spite  of  institutions  for 
juvenile  offenders — How  to  measure  the  worth  of  juvenile 
institutions — Percentage  of  inmates  who  do  well  in  after-life. 
— Reconviction  the  test  of  well-doing — Value  of  the  returns 
relating  to  reconvictions — Value  of  juvenile  institutions — Cor- 
rective institutions  a  necessity — Cases  for  committal  to  these 
institutions — The  committal  of  first  offenders — The  committal 
of  young  children — Committal  of  children  to  day  industrial 
schools  and  truant  schools — Cases  for  dav  industrial  schools — 
Training  in  day  mdustrial  schools — Truant  schools — The  object 
of  truant  schools — Dull  and  defective  children — Treatment  of 
children  in  truant  schools — Individualisation  in  truant  schools 
— Punishment  in  truant  schools — The  treatment  of  juvenile 
offenders  over  sixteen  in  England — In  the  United  States — Dr. 
Appelius  and  Professor  Stoos  on  the  treatment  of  offenders 

268 


I 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  269 

under  eighteen — The  age  of  maturity — Maturity  and  intel- 
ligence— Age  of  admission  to  corrective  institutions — Report 
of  the  Prisons  Committee  on  the  subject — Classification  of 
corrective  institutions — Classific-ation  in  Great  Britain — Classifi- 
cation according  to  age — Children  of  different  ages  subjected 
to  too  uniform  treatment — Classihcation  according  to  offence^ 
Difticulties  of  classification — A  proper  system  of  classification 
— The  supreme  authority  over  dependent  and  delinquent 
children  should  be  the  Education  Department— Classification 
of  institutions  must  be  supplemented  by  individualisation  of 
inmates — The  size  of  corrective  institutions — Small  schools — 
The  New  York  Conference  on  the  care  of  dependent  and 
delinquent  children — The  Poor  Law  Schools  Committee  on 
large  schools — Size  of  schools  for  juvenile  offenders  in  Great 
Britain — Physical  and  mental  examination  of  children  com- 
mitted to  corrective  institutions  —  This  examination  should 
be  repeated  at  frequent  intervals — Physical  examination  of 
delinquent  juveniles  in  France — Liberation  from  corrective 
institutions — Liberation  after  a  short  period  of  detention — 
Evils  of  detention  for  prolonged  periods— Principles  regulating 
the  release  of  juveniles — Conduct  in  the  school— Nature  of 
offence  —  Habit  of  offending  —  Destination  of  offender  — 
Michigan  system. 

In  the  preceding  observations  on  the  repression  of 
juvenile  crime  we  have  been  discussing  and  appre- 
ciating the  value  of  methods  which  are  primarily 
punitive  in  character.  The  fundamental  defect  of  all 
punitive  measures  which  ultimately  terminate  in  the 
liberation  of  the  delinquent  is  that  they  are  in  the 
main  intimidatory.  They  do  not  touch  the  individual 
and  social  conditions  which  produce  the  criminal 
population.  The  scope  and  purpose  of  penal  methods 
is  almost  exclusively  confined  to  operating  on  the 
sense  of  fear.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  fear  of 
punishment  exercises  a  deterrent  effect  of  some  sort, 
but  the  criminal  returns  of  every  civilised  community 
point  with  remarkable  unanimity  to  the  conclusion 
19 


2/0  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 


that    the    restraining    influence    of   fear   on    criminal 
tendencies   is   much   more   limited   than  is  generally 
supposed.     It  is  perfectly  certain  that  if  the  terrors 
of  the  criminal  law  could  have  stamped  out  crime  it 
would  have    disappeared  long  ago.     Punishments  of 
the  most  appalling  severity  existed  until  a  compara- 
tively recent  period  in  every  criminal  code,  and  what 
is  more,  these  punishments  were  regularly  and  syste- 
matically resorted  to  in  dealing  with  criminal  offen- 
ders.    Hanging,    branding,   burning,   mutilation,   was 
the  fate  which  awaited  the  perpetrators  of  what  would 
now  be  regarded  as  trifling  offences.     Yet  there  is  no 
evidence  to  show  that  these  severities  had  the  effect 
of  putting  a  stop  to  crime.     On  the  contrary,  as  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  get  information  on  the  subject,  the 
proportion  of  criminal  offences  to  the  population  was 
as  high  a  century  ago  as  it  is  to-day. 
"    It  is  generally  believed  that  the  value  of  punish- 
ment as  a  deterrent  depends  as   much,  and  perhaps 
even    more,  upon   its   certainty  than  on  its  severity. 
Within  the  present   century  punishments  of  a  penal 
character  have  diminished  in  severity  to  a  remarkable 
extent.     The  penalty  of  death  has  been  abolished  in 
practice  for  every  offence  except  the  crime  of  wilful 
murder.     The  practice  of  sending  criminals  to  penal 
servitude  has  materially  diminished,  the  duration  of 
imprisonment    has    been    shortened,   and   in    a  great 
many  cases  penalties  of  a   lighter  description   have 
been  substituted  for  committal  to  jail.     Side  by  side 
with  this  movement  for  diminishing  the  severity  of 
punishment   there   has   grown    up    a    corresponding 
movement   to  increase  its   certainty.     The  principal 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIOXS.  27 1 

and  most  conspicuous  feature  of  this  movement  con- 
sisted in  the  estabHshment  and  organisation  of  a 
vast  and  minutely  ramified  system  of  poHce.  The 
result  of  the  establishment  of  this  force  has  probably 
been  to  secure  a  greater  degree  of  certainty  in  the 
detection  of  crime  and  criminals.  I  have  been  re- 
peatedly told  by  old  criminals  that  it  is  now  a  much 
more  difficult  thing  to  escape  the  clutches  of  the  law 
than  it  was  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  police. 
This  is  no  doubt  an  accurate  statement  of  the  case. 
It  may  therefore  be  safely  accepted  as  a  fact  that 
while  punishment  has  decreased  in  severity  during 
the  present  century  it  has  at  the  same  time  increased 
in  certainty.  The  probability  that  a  criminal  will  be 
apprehended  and  convicted  is  now  greater  than  it  was 
when  punishments  were  more  severe.  But  the  in- 
creased probability  of  detection  and  conviction  has 
not  put  a  stop  to  crime,  or  even  perceptibly  diminished 
its  volume  and  intensity.  According  to  the  official 
returns  of  every  civilised  state,  offences  against  the 
criminal  law  are  steadily  increasing  in  number  ;  it  is 
sometimes  maintained  that  they  are  diminishing  in 
seriousness,  but  the  apparent  diminution  in  this  direc- 
tion arises  from  alterations  of  judicial  procedure  of  a 
mitigatory  character,  and  from  a  growing  unwilling- 
ness among  the  public  to  prosecute. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  if  the  fear  of  detection 
and  the  fear  of  punishment  are  of  so  little  efficacy  the 
actual  experience  of  punishment  would  at  least  have 
a  salutary  result.  Punishment  in  the  shape  of  com- 
mittal to  prison  or  to  penal  servitude  is  a  severe  and 
humiliating   ordeal.      During   the    time    it    lasts    the 


2/2  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

person  who  has  to  endure  it  is  in  the  abject  position 
of  a  slave.  His  Hberty  is  taken  from  him,  his  freedom 
of  movement  is  confined  within  the  narrowest  Hmits : 
he  cannot  choose  what  he  will  eat  or  where  he  will 
sleep  or  what  he  will  put  on.  His  will  is  obliterated, 
his  powers  of  decision  and  action  are  reduced  to  a 
nullity.  A  considerable  part  of  the  satisfaction  which 
we  derive  from  life  consists  in  observing  the  wade  world 
around  us,  and  in  watching  or  participating  in  the 
changing  and  dramatic  incidents  with  which  it  is 
filled.  The  prisoner  is  completely  cut  off  from  all 
these  sources  of  interest ;  for  the  time  being  the 
world  is  dead  to  him  ;  he  has  no  outlook  upon 
external  things ;  he  is  shut  up  within  the  narrow 
horizon  of  his  own  disordered  imaginings  ;  he  lives 
and  breathes  in  a  polluted  atmosphere  of  monotony, 
solitude,  and  gloom.  In  addition  to  these  privations 
his  social  sympathies  are  repressed  and  starved. 
Society,  friendship,  affection,  the  pillars  on  which 
human  happiness  repose,  are  demolished.  The 
friendly  greeting,  the  solace  of  companionship,  the 
consolations  of  affection,  are  practically  excluded 
from  a  prisoner's  life.  The  human  element  in  it  is 
reduced  to  a  minimum  ;  he  is  only  allowed  to  retain 
the  instincts  and  faculties  which  he  has  in  common 
with  solitary  birds  and  beasts  of  prey. 

A  single  experience  of  imprisonment  would  consti- 
tute an  effective  check  on  any  future  tendency  to 
crime  if  punishment  possessed  the  efficacy  which  it  is 
generally  believed  to  have.  But  the  ordinary  view  of 
the  efficacy  of  punishment  is  largely  an  illusion.  It 
is  not  supported  by  facts.     A  period  of  detention  in 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  2/3 

prison  produces  very  little  change  on  the  future 
conduct  of  the  convicted  population.  As  a  proof 
of  this  it  has  only  to  be  remembered  that  among 
every  hundred  prisoners  more  than  one-half  have 
been  in  prison  before.  And  a  large  percentage  of 
these  prisoners  have  been  recommitted,  not  once 
or  twice,  but  five,  ten,  or  twenty  times.  In  face 
of  facts  of  this  character  it  is  folly  to  imagine  that 
punishment  is  an  effective  remedy  for  crime.  When 
we  come  to  look  at  the  reason  why  punishment 
involving  the  loss  of  liberty  is  so  ineffective,  we  find 
in  the  first  place  that  it  aggravates  the  conditions 
\vhich  tend  to  make  a  man  a  criminal.  Nearly  all 
the  people  who  are  committed  to  prison  are  some- 
what deteriorated  either  bodily  or  mentally  before 
they  come  within  the  clutches  of  the  law.  Crime  is 
usually  the  result  of  this  condition  of  deterioration. 
If  the  deterioration  which  has  set  in  before  imprison- 
ment is  made  worse  by  the  conditions  of  prison  life, 
it  is  impossible  for  punishment  in  the  shape  of 
imprisonment  to  prevent  the  offender  from  repeating 
the  offence.  According  to  the  Royal  Commissioners 
of  1879  and  the  Prisons  Committee  of  1895,  the  con- 
ditions of  prison  life  are  of  this  adverse  character. 
Imprisonment,  they  pronounce,  "not  only  fails  to 
reform  offenders,  but  in  the  case  of  the  less  hardened 
criminals,  and  especially  of  first  offenders,  it  produces 
a  deteriorating  effect."  In  other  words,  imprisonment 
defeats  the  verj^  purpose  for  which  it  is  supposed  to 
exist.  Instead  of  operating  as  a  deterrent  and  a 
check  on  the  criminal  population,  it  deteriorates  the 
offender   and    increases  the  probability  that  he  will 


274  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

continue  to  be  a  criminal  for  the  remainder  of  his 
hfe. 

When  we  look  behind  the  elaborate  machinery  of 
penal  codes  and  penitentiary  establishments  at  the 
criminal  himself,  the  failure  of  mere  punishment  as 
an  instrument  of  social  security  at  once  becomes 
apparent.  An  inquiry  into  the  individual  and  social 
circumstances  of  the  criminal  when  he  begins  his 
career  of  crime  reveals  the  fact  that  in  nearly  every 
instance  these  circumstances  are  of  an  abnormal 
character.  As  far  as  individual  conditions  are  con- 
cerned it  is  found  that  a  considerable  percentage  of 
the  juvenile  criminal  population  are  either  physically 
or  mentally  below  the  average.  As  far  as  family  life 
is  concerned  it  is  found  that  the  juvenile  offender,  as  a 
rule,  has  either  no  home  or  else  a  bad  one,  has  either 
no  parents  or  else  bad  parents.  Again,  when  his 
economic  circumstances  and  opportunities  are  re- 
viewed, it  is  seen  that  they  are  of  an  adverse  and 
abnormal  character.  It  is  obvious  that  the  connec- 
tion between  abnormal  circumstances  of  an  adverse 
kind  and  an  abnormal  or  criminal  mode  of  life  is  not 
a  mere  accidental  coincidence.  It  is  in  the  main  a 
relation  of  cause  and  effect.  It  is  the  abnormal  cir- 
cumstances which  produce  the  abnormal  conduct,  and 
the  abnormal  conduct  will  continue,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  does  continue,  till  the  abnormal  circumstances 
are  removed.  When  the  question  as  to  the  best 
method  of  dealing  with  the  criminal  population  is 
looked  at  from  this  point  of  view  it  immediately 
becomes  evident  that  neither  punishment  nor  the 
fear  of  punishment  will  remove  the  conditions  which 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  2/5 

make  men  criminals.  The  penal  law,  with  its  for- 
midable looking  instruments  of  retaliation  and  in- 
timidation, does  not  so  much  as  touch  the  perma- 
nent causes  of  crime.  All  that  it  succeeds  in  doing 
is  to  inflict  an  immense  amount  of  suffering  and 
misery.  It  is  the  more  or  less  conscious  perception 
of  this  fact  which  has  diverted  men's  minds  from 
the  penal  to  the  educational  treatment  of  juvenile 
offenders. 

The  principle  at  the  root  of  the  educational  method 
of  dealing  with  juvenile  crime  is  an  absolutely  sound 
one.  It  is  a  principle  which  recognises  the  fact  that 
the  juvenile  delinquent  is  in  the  main  a  product  of 
adverse  individual  and  social  conditions.  From  this 
fundamental  fact  it  draws  the  obvious  conclusion  that 
the  only  effective  treatment  of  juvenile  crime  must 
consist  in  placing  the  juvenile  in  the  midst  of  whole- 
some material  and  moral  surroundings.  The  prac- 
tical application  of  this  principle  commenced  about 
three  centuries  ago  in  Holland  and  Germany,  and  has 
since  slowly  extended  to  all  civilised  communities. 
It  is  only  within  a  comparatively  recent  period  that 
the  State  has  formally  recognised  the  value  of  the 
ameliorative  as  compared  with  the  punitive  process  of 
dealing  with  juvenile  delinquents.  Till  the  middle  of 
the  present  century  the  establishment  of  institutions 
for  dealing  with  these  offenders  was  in  the  main  a 
matter  of  private  initiative.  Long  before  the  State 
took  any  action  it  was  perceived  by  private  individuals 
all  over  Europe  that  the  causes  of  juvenile  crime 
orieinated  in  the  miserable  conditions  of  the  juvenile 
criminal.     It  was   seen    that   as  a  rule  the  juvenile 


276  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

offender  was  sunk  in  moral  and  material  wretched- 
ness. His  offence  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
deplorable  circumstances  in  which  he  had  to  live. 
The  perception  of  these  facts  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  was  to  be  regarded  with  pity  rather  than 
resentment.  He  was  a  victim  of  circumstances  over 
which  he  had  little  or  no  control.  The  terrors  of  the 
penal  law  were  powerless  to  alter  these  circumstances. 
The  State,  through  its  criminal  machinery,  was 
striking  at  the  offence  and  not  at  the  offender.  Men 
began  to  see  that  this  method  would  have  to  be 
reversed.  Alter  the  conditions  of  the  offender,  they 
said,  and  the  offence  will  cease.  Remove  him  from 
his  miserable  surroundings.  Instruct  him.  Put  him 
as  far  as  possible  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the 
rest  of  the  population.  Give  him  the  same  economic 
opportunities  as  other  men,  the  same  habits  of 
industry  as  other  men,  and  he  will  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases  act  like  other  men.  These  were 
the  principles  on  which  the  individuals  and  voluntary 
associations  devoted  to  the  reclamation  of  juvenile 
offenders  commenced  and  carried  on  their  work. 

The  success  of  these  principles  ultimately  attracted 
general  attention  in  Europe  and  America,  and  public 
opinion  began  to  demand  the  application  of  them  on 
a  more  extended  scale.  It  was  felt  that  private 
initiative,  however  admirable,  was  unable  to  cope 
with  the  vast  problem  of  juvenile  delinquency.  The 
dimensions  of  the  evil  necessitated  the  co-operation 
of  the  community  in  its  collective  capacity.  In 
Europe,  France  led  the  way,  and  in  1850  special  laws 
were  passed  in  the  French  chamber  relating  to  the 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  2// 

treatment  of  juvenile  delinquents.  In  1854  England 
followed  in  the  wake  of  France.  In  the  two  decades 
between  1850  and  1870  almost  every  state  in  Europe 
had  passed  laws  or  organised  establishments  for  the 
reclamation  of  juvenile  offenders.  The  new  world 
was  as  active  as  the  old.  In  the  rational  treatment 
of  the  young  offender  many  states  of  the  American 
Union  have  borne  an  honourable  and  conspicuous 
part.  The  New  York  House  of  Refuge,  chartered  in 
1824,  was  established  by  the  state  of  New  York  many 
years  before  any  European  government  had  given  its 
attention  to  the  value  of  reclamatory  methods  of 
dealing  with  juvenile  delinquency.  Since  that  date 
the  number  of  institutions  for  young  offenders  has 
steadily  increased,  especially  in  the  North  Atlantic 
states.  According  to  the  census  bulletin,  the  total 
number  of  inmates  in  juvenile  reformatories  in  the 
United  States  in  1890  amounted  to  nearly  fifteen 
thousand.  The  population  of  these  establishments 
increased  nearly  30  per  cent,  in  ten  years. 

The  principle  of  dealing  with  juvenile  offenders 
in  special  institutions  has  been  most  widely  applied 
in  Great  Britain.  According  to  the  report  of  the 
inspector  of  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  for 
1894  the  number  of  children  under  order  of  detention 
in  reformatory,  industrial,  truant,  and  day  industrial 
schools  amounted  to  33,521.  During  the  last  twenty 
years  the  number  of  children  sent  to  reformatory 
schools  has  remained  almost  stationary.  This  sta- 
tionary condition  of  the  reformatory  school  popula- 
tion has  arisen  to  a  considerable  extent  from  the  fact 
that  until  recently  it  was  obligatory  that  every  child 


2/8  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS.      . 

destined  for  a  reformatory  should  first  undergo  a 
preliminary  sentence  of  imprisonment.  Magistrates 
became  more  and  more  unwilling  to  pass  these 
sentences,  and  many  of  the  children  who  used  to 
be  committed  to  reformatories  were  sent  to  industrial 
schools.  In  the  case  of  committal  to  an  industrial 
school  a  period  of  preliminary  imprisonment  is  not 
required.  Partly  as  a  result  of  this  fact,  and  partly 
from  other  causes,  the  number  of  committals  to  these 
schools  has  been  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
In  1870  the  number  of  children  in  industrial  schools 
in  Great  Britain  amounted  to  8,778;  in  1880  this 
number  had  increased  to  16,446;  ten  years  later  it 
had  risen  to  22,735  ;  and  according  to  the  last  returns, 
1894,  the  total  number  of  children  in  industrial  schools 
is  24,683.  Day  industrial  schools  are  a  class  of  insti- 
tutions in  which  children  who  have  been  before  the 
magistrates  are  detained  during  the  day  but  are 
allowed  to  return  to  their  homes  at  night.  These 
schools  have  been  in  operation  for  the  last  eighteen 
years.  There  are  now  more  than  twenty  of  them 
in  the  large  towns  of  England  and  Scotland.  The 
population  of  day  industrial  schools  has  increased 
from  little  over  a  thousand  in  1880  to  more  than 
three  thousand  in  1894.  The  expenditure  on  juvenile 
institutions  of  all  sorts  is  now  a  considerable  sum. 
According  to  the  latest  returns  on  the  subject  it  at 
present  amounts  to  over  half  a  million  sterling  per 
annum.  The  larger  part  of  this  amount  is  paid  by 
the  central  government.  A  certain  amount  is  deriv^ed 
from  local  taxation  and  voluntary  subscriptions,  and 
about  twenty  thousand  pounds  per   annum  is  paid 


1 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  2/9 

by  the  parents  of  the  children  who  are  under  deten- 
tion. 

What  has  been  the  effect  of  these  institutions  on 
the  general  movement  of  crime  ?  Has  crime  in- 
creased or  decreased  as  a  result  of  their  establish- 
ment? These  are  questions  which  are  very  often 
asked,  and  an  answer  is  usually  sought  by  a  reference 
to  the  prison  population.  During  the  last  ten  years 
or  so  the  number  of  persons  in  prison  in  England 
and  Wales  has  on  the  whole  tended  to  diminish, 
notwithstanding  the  growth  of  the  general  population; 
The  diminution  of  the  prison  population  is  an  in- 
teresting fact,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  mean  a 
diminution  in  the  amount  of  crime.  As  has  already 
been  mentioned,  the  prison  population  in  England  and 
Wales  has  been  diminished  by  a  variety  of  causes 
which  are  quite  unconnected  with  the  decrease  of 
crime.  It  has  been  diminished,  in  the  first  place,  by 
the  shortening  of  sentences.  It  is  notorious  that  the 
tendency  in  recent  years  has  been  to  sentence  con- 
victed men  to  much  shorter  periods  of  detention  than 
used  to  be  the  case.  Crimes  for  which  offenders  used 
invariably  to  be  sent  to  penal  servitude  for  long 
periods  are  now  considered  to  be  purged  by  com- 
paratively short  terms  of  imprisonment.  If  sentences 
are  shortened  in  this  manner  the  population  in  prison 
will  diminish  although  there  has  been  no  correspond- 
ing diminution  in  the  amount  or  gravity  of  crime. 
A  reduction  in  the  duration  of  sentences  by  one-half 
has  the  immediate  and  inevitable  result  of  reducingr 
the  inmates  of  prisons  by  one-half  In  short,  the  size 
of  the  prison  population  depends  on  the  duration  of 


28o  JUVENILE  Offenders. 

sentences,  and  not  on  the  amount  of  crime.  It  is 
therefore  useless  to  appeal  to  the  dimensions  of 
the  prison  population  as  a  proof  of  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  reformatory  and  industrial  school  move- 
ment. 

Another  test  of  the  criminal  condition  of  the 
community  which  is  sometimes  resorted  to  is  not 
the  number  of  persons  in  prison  on  a  certain  day, 
but  the  number  of  cases  committed  to  prison  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  The  value  of  this  test  is  also 
very  much  affected  by  changes  in  judicial  procedure. 
Within  the  last  twenty  years  there  has  been  a 
strongly  marked  disinclination  on  the  part  of  judges 
and  magistrates  to  commit  offenders  to  prison.  In 
the  case  of  adult  offenders  fining,  sureties,  conditional 
sentences,  admonitions,  have  been  largely  substituted 
for  imprisonment ;  and,  as  regards  the  young,  in 
addition  to  these  methods  committal  to  certified 
schools  and  voluntary  homes  has  in  a  vast  number 
of  instances  taken  the  place  of  the  prison.  If  penal- 
ties of  the  kind  which  have  just  been  mentioned  are 
substituted  for  imprisonment  the  number  of  persons 
sent  to  prison  is  certain  to  be  reduced.  In  these 
circumstances  a  decrease  in  the  numbers  sent  to 
prison  in  the  course  of  the  year  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  a  corresponding  decrease  in  the  amount 
of  crime.  It  may  be  merely  the  result,  and  as  far  as 
England  and  Wales  is  concerned  it  is  unquestionably 
the  result,  of  alterations  in  our  methods  of  punish- 
ment. Whether,  then,  we  look  at  the  daily  average 
prison  population  or  the  annual  total  of  committals 
to  prison  we  find  that  they  are  unsatisfactory  stan- 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  28 1 

dards  for  measuring  the  fluctuations  of  crime.  These 
standards  cannot  be  used  as  tests  of  the  vakie  of  our 
existing  educational  methods  of  deahng  with  juvenile 
offenders. 

The  case  of  Scotland  is  an  additional  proof  of 
the  fallacy  of  attempting  to  gauge  the  worth  of 
the  educational  institutions  by  a  reference  to  the 
number  of  committals  to  prison.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  establishments  for  juvenile 
offenders  in  Scotland  are  just  as  efficient  as  in- 
stitutions of  the  same  character  in  England.  The 
inspector  of  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  speaks 
of  them  in  as  high  terms  of  approval,  and  as  far 
as  figures  go  they  appear  to  present  as  high  an 
average  of  successful  results.  But  if  these  institu- 
tions were  to  be  tested  by  the  number  of  committals 
to  Scotch  prisons  they  would  have  to  be  condemned 
as  a  comparative  failure.  Within  the  last  thirty 
years — that  is  to  say,  within  the  period  which 
coincides  with  the  rise  and  growth  of  these  schools 
— the  number  of  committals  to  prison  in  Scotland 
has  on  the  whole  tended  to  increase.  The  United 
States  is  in  exactly  the  same  position  as  Scotland. 
According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1890  the 
number  of  convicts  in  penitentiaries  has  increased 
to  the  extent  of  27  per  cent,  in  ten  years,  and  the 
number  of  prisoners  in  county  jails  has  increased 
nearly  54  per  cent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  popu- 
lation of  the  American  Union  has  only  increased 
about  25  per  cent,  during  the  decade.  In  other 
words,  the  prison  population  is  increasing  faster 
than    the    general    population.      But    it    would    be 


282  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

absurd  and  unjust  to  draw  any  conclusions  from 
these  figures  as  to  the  value  of  the  child-saving 
institutions  of  the  United  States. 

The    fundamental    fallacy   at    the    bottom    of    all 
comparisons    between    the    prison    population     and 
the  growth  of  institutions    for    delinquent   juveniles 
is   the    assumption    that  the   movement  of  crime    is 
entirely  dependent    on    the  juvenile    population.     A 
community  which   has  a  considerable   proportion   of 
young  people  who  are  morally  and  materially  neg- 
lected will    undoubtedly    tend    to    produce    a    corre- 
sponding proportion  of  criminals.     But   it   is    to    be 
remembered    that    crime   is  produced  by  other  con- 
ditions besides  the  neglect  of  the  young.     Neglected 
youth   is  an  important   condition,  but  it  is   not   the 
only  one.     It    is    merely  one    among    many   causes. 
Another    most    important    cause    in    the    production 
of  crime  is  the  concentration  of  population  in  large 
cities.     It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  a  densely 
crowded    population    produces   a   larger    quantity  of 
criminals  in  proportion  to  its  numbers  than  a  thinly 
peopled   district.     Among   the   inhabitants   of    such 
vast  cities  as  London,  Paris,  and  New  York   there 
is  a  much  larger  proportion  of  criminals  than  there 
is  among  an  equal  number  of  the  population  in  the 
country   districts    around    them.       This    arises    from 
several  circumstances.     In  the  first  place,  large  cities 
have  a  tendency  to  attract  the  criminal  elements  in 
the    community.      Notwithstanding   the    presence    of 
a    huge    police    force    it   is    easier  for  a  criminal   to 
escape    detection    in    a    large    city  than    in  a  thinly 
peopled  district.     A  large  city  also  offers  the  criminal 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  283 

greater  opportunities  of  plunder,  owing  to  the  im- 
mense concentration  of  property  which  always  takes 
place  within  it.  In  addition  to  these  causes  the 
artificial  conditions  of  existence  in  large  cities  pro- 
duce a  large  degenerate  class.  Many  members  of 
this  class  are  almost  forced  into  a  career  of  crime 
by  their  wretched  moral  and  material  surroundings. 
The  material  conditions  among  which  they  are  born 
and  have  to  live  are  of  the  worst  description.  They 
are  huddled  together  by  the  thousand  in  gloomy  and 
squalid  streets  and  alleys.  It  would  be  a  mockery 
to  call  the  dens  in  which  they  live  by  the  name  of 
home.  Even  in  these  dens  they  are  often  packed 
together  in  numbers  which  make  decency  impossible. 
No  doubt  there  are  exceptional  cases  in  which  people 
who  have  been  brought  up  under  such  conditions 
rise  superior  to  their  surroundings  and  exhibit  many 
of  the  characteristics  of  orderly  citizens.  But  these 
cases  are  the  exception.  As  a  rule  a  man  is  shaped 
by  the  surroundings  in  which  he  has  been  born 
and  is  obliged  to  live.  If  these  surroundings  are 
all  calculated  to  injure  him  and  to  degrade  him 
he  will  sooner  or  later  degenerate,  and  become  a 
drunkard,  a  pauper,  a  lunatic,  or  a  criminal,  or,  as 
not  infrequently  happens,  a  combination  of  all. 

Economic  vicissitudes  are  another  important  ele- 
ment in  the  production  of  crime.  The  relations 
between  poverty  and  crime  are  not,  perhaps,  so 
intimate  as  is  commonly  supposed.  A  poor  popu- 
lation may  be,  and  very  often  is,  an  exceedingly 
honest  and  orderly  population.  But  a  population 
which    is   exposed    to    severe   economic    crises    is   a 


284  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

population  in  which  criminal  propensities  are  sure 
to  be  strongly  developed.  Whenever  a  wave  of 
industrial  depression  sweeps  over  a  population  it 
is  always  followed  by  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  offences  against  property.  And  the  worst  of  it 
is  that  when  the  wave  ultimately  recedes  it  has  so 
demoralised  certain  sections  of  the  community  that 
they  do  not  resume  their  ordinary  occupations. 
They  have  become  criminals  in  bad  times  and  they 
continue  criminals  when  times  are  good.  Economic 
stability,  even  if  the  standard  of  material  comfort 
is  comparatively  low,  is  infinitely  preferable,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  public  security,  to  an  industrial 
system  in  which  considerable  masses  of  the  people 
are  subjected  to  violent  economic  ups  and  downs. 
Many  other  causes  of  crime  might  be  mentioned 
besides  economic  vicissitudes  and  the  concentration 
of  population  in  large  cities  ;  but  a  reference  to  these 
two  causes  is  sufficient  to  show  that  crime  is  pro- 
duced by  other  conditions  besides  neglect  of  the 
young.  There  are  circumstances  in  which  these 
conditions  may  be  working  more  powerfully  for 
evil  than  child-saving  institutions  are  working  for 
good.  When  this  is  the  case  crime  will  increase 
in  spite  of  the  best  juvenile  institutions  imaginable. 
It  is  therefore  useless  to  estimate  the  worth  of  these 
institutions  by  a  reference  to  the  general  movement 
of  crime. 

The  real  test  of  the  value  of  institutions  for 
juvenile  offenders  is  not  the  rise  or  fall  of  crime, 
but  the  percentage  of  children  who  do  well  in  the 
world  after  they  have  left  them.     The  rise  and  fall 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  285 

of  crime,  as  we  have  seen,  is  dominated  b}'  a  variety 
of  conditions  over  which  juv^enile  institutions  have 
exceedingly  Httle  control.  All  that  can  reasonably 
be  claimed  for  these  establishments  is  that  if  they 
are  successful  in  the  work  of  juvenile  reclamation 
they  prevent  crime  from  assuming  the  proportions 
which  it  would  otherwise  possess.  But  it  would  be 
absurd  to  contend  that  the  movement  of  crime  is 
entirely  regulated  by  their  failure  or  success.  Crime 
in  its  totality  is  the  product  of  a  multitude  of 
social  and  individual  conditions  of  which  juvenile 
delinquency  is  only  one.  To  suppose  that  its 
dimensions  can  be  regulated  by  juvenile  institutions 
alone  is  to  assume  that  it  is  entirely  produced  by 
the  adverse  circumstances  attending  neglected  youth. 
This,  as  we  have  shown,  is  not  the  case. 

Let  us,  then,  examine  the  worth  of  these  institu- 
tions by  the  only  proper  standard  of  their  worth — • 
namely,  the  amount  of  success  which  attends  their 
efforts  in  reclaiming  the  children  committed  to  their 
care.  When  the  children  who  have  been  in  reforma- 
tory and  industrial  schools  go  out  again  into  the 
world  it  is  the  duty  of  the  institutions  where  they 
have  been  confined  to  keep  in  touch  with  them,  and 
to  report  upon  their  conduct  for  the  first  three  years 
after  their  liberation.  In  these  reports  the  children 
are  divided  into  four  classes.  The  first  class  consists 
of  juveniles  who  are  doing  well  after  their  liberation, 
the  second  consists  of  those  whose  conduct  is  doubt- 
ful, the  third  of  those  who  have  been  again  convicted, 
and  the  fourth  of  those  whose  whereabouts  are  un- 
known. According  to  these  returns  it  appears  that 
20 


286  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

three-fourths  of  the  children  committed  to  reforma- 
tory schools  in  Great  Britain  do  well  after  their 
discharge.  The  remaining  fourth  are  either  lost 
sieht  of  or  are  doubtful  cases  or  have  been  recon- 
victed.  Industrial  schools  receive  a  younger,  and 
on  the  whole  a  less  criminal,  class  of  children  than 
reformatory  schools.  We  should  therefore  expect  a 
somewhat  higher  percentage  of  success  among  them. 
According  to  the  returns  about  five  in  every  six  are 
recorded  as  doing  well  after  their  liberation.  The 
amount  of  success  attending  the  operation  of  day 
industrial  schools  is  not  so  easy  to  estimate.  If, 
however,  children  who  have  been  in  these  schools 
and  are  afterwards  reconvicted  and  sent  to  reforma- 
tory and  industrial  institutions  are  to  be  regarded 
as  failures,  it  would  appear  that  one  in  every  seven 
of  the  juveniles  committed  to  day  industrial  schools 
are  afterwards  recommitted  to  reformatory  and  in- 
dustrial schools. 

Xn  appreciating  the  value  of  these  returns  of  success 
and  failure  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  definition 
of  doing  well  is  a  somewhat  lax  one.  The  absence 
of  reconviction  is  practically  the  test  of  welldoing. 
This  test,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  not  all  that  could 
be  wished.  A  juvenile  may  succeed  in  escaping  the 
meshes  of  the  criminal  law  for  three  years  after  he  is 
set  at  liberty,  yet  in  many  cases  it  is  only  by  a  stretch 
of  imagination  that  he  can  be  said  to  be  doing  well. 
He  may  be  successful  in  keeping  out  of  prison,  yet 
he  may  be  living  an  idle,  aimless,  worthless  existence 
hovering  on  the  borderland  between  pauperism  and 
crime.     On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only  fair  to  recollect 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  287 

that  many  cases  which  have  to  be  put  down  in  the 
returns  as  failures  are  not  really  failures  in  the  long 
run.  Some  juveniles  after  their  terms  of  detention 
have  expired  are  temporarily  intoxicated  by  their 
newly  acquired  liberty,  and  as  a  consequence  find 
their  way  into  prison.  But  this  relapse,  although  of 
evil  omen,  is  sometimes  merely  a  disastrous  incident. 
It  is  not  always  to  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  ultimate 
failure.  It  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  proof  that  the 
youth  means  to  follow,  or  actually  does  follow,  settled 
habits  of  crime.  After  a  time  he  rights  himself  and 
becomes  an  honest  and  industrious  member  of  the 
community.  Cases  of  this  description  have  several 
times  come  within  my  own  observation,  and  I  should 
not  like  to  say  that  the  training  a  juvenile  has 
received  is  wasted,  or  that  he  should  be  for  ever 
classed  in  the  category  of  failures  on  the  ground  of 
a  solitary  reconviction  for  some  trifling  offence. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  tabulated  returns  relating  to 
the  success  or  failure  in  after-life  of  children  who 
have  been  under  detention  can  never  be  altogether 
accurate,  and  must  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  mere 
approximations.  They  are  not  a  complete  represen- 
tation of  the  actual  facts.  They  leave  much  to  be 
considered  which  cannot  be  reduced  to  statistical 
formulae,  and  cannot  be  expressed  in  the  nomen- 
clature of  figures.  Assuming,  however,  that  these 
figures  are  the  most  precise  expression  of  the  worth 
of  educational  institutions  for  juvenile  offenders 
which  it  is  possible  to  find,  can  they  be  described 
as  altogether  satisfactory?  If  the  whole  of  the 
children  subjected  to  detention  in  these  institutions 


288  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

would  otherwise  have  become  criminals  of  the 
habitual  type,  it  must  be  admitted  that  a  system 
which  saves  three-fourths  or  even  one-half  of  them 
from  such  a  disastrous  fate  is  not  to  be  lightly  con- 
demned. On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  large  assumption 
to  suppose  that  all  the  children  committed  to  cor- 
rective institutions  would  have  become  criminals  if 
these  institutions  had  not  been  in  existence  to  rescue 
them.  It  is  practically  certain  that  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  the  inmates  of  establishments  for  juvenile 
offenders  would  ultimately  do  well  in  the  world  even 
if  they  had  not  been  committed  to  these  places  of 
detention.  But,  admitting  all  these  facts  and  making 
all  reasonable  deductions  on  account  of  them,  it  must 
still  be  maintained,  to  use  the  words  of  the  Royal 
Commission  appointed  to  inquire  into  them,  that  the 
work  of  these  schools  is  important  and  beneficial. 

In  view  of  the  failure  of  imprisonment  as  an  effec- 
tive means  of  dealing  with  juvenile  offenders,  the 
community  is  bound  to  resort  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree  to  the  practice  of  committing  certain  classes 
of  juveniles  to  corrective  institutions.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances the  only  question  which  remains  for 
consideration  is  the  principles  on  which  these  institu- 
tions should  be  conducted,  so  as  to  achieve  the  best 
possible  results.  The  primary  purpose  of  these 
institutions  is  to  deal  in  the  first  place  with  children 
who  have  actually  committed  offences  against  the 
criminal  law,  and  in  the  second  place  with  children 
whose  conduct  and  surroundings  are  of  such  a 
character  that  offences  against  the  criminal  law  are 
in  all  probability  only  a  question  of  time  and  oppor- 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  289 

tunity.  The  case  of  children  who  have  actually  fallen 
into  crime  is  comparatively  simple,  and  it  is  not  as  a 
rule  difficult  for  a  magistrate  to  arrive  at  a  decision 
as  to  whether  a  child  of  this  description  should  be 
committed  to  a  corrective  institution  or  not.  If  such 
a  child  is  living  under  adverse  parental  circumstances, 
and  if  the  oftence  with  which  he  is  charged  is  the 
result  of  deep-seated  moral  obliquity,  then  it  is  clearly 
advisable  in  the  interests  of  public  security  that  the 
juvenile  should  be  removed  from  his  surroundings 
and  placed  in  the  midst  of  more  wholesome  moral 
conditions.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  as  a  rule  inad- 
visable to  commit  children  to  corrective  institutions 
who  are  living  under  normal  parental  conditions, 
even  if  these  children  have  become  offenders  against 
the  criminal  law.  The  discipline  of  a  somewhat 
inferior  home  is  always  better  than  the  discipline  of 
an  institution,  and  the  efforts  of  parental  solicitude 
are  much  more  likely  to  be  effectual  in  the  ultimate 
reclamation  of  a  wayward  child  than  any  kind  of 
State  machinery. 

It  is  sometimes  suggested  that  first  offenders  should 
in  no  case  be  committed  to  corrective  institutions. 
Where  the  offence  is  actually  a  first  offence,  and  where 
there  are  no  circumstances  calling  for  exceptional 
treatment,  it  is  a  wise  principle  to  act  with  every 
possible  indulgence.  But  the  difficulty  of  applying 
this  principle  in  its  entirety  arises  from  the  fact  that 
a  first  offender  is  sometimes  an  old  offender  in  reality. 
His  first  appearance  before  the  criminal  courts  is  not 
always  to  be  accepted  as  a  proof  that  he  has  just 
begun  to  offend  against  the  criminal  law.     It  is  only 


290  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

a  proof  that  he  has  so  far  succeeded  in  escaping 
detection.  He  may  in  reality  be  an  old  offender, 
although  it  is  his  first  appearance  before  the  criminal 
courts.  Circumstances  of  this  kind  have  always  to 
be  taken  into  consideration  in  dealing  with  juvenile 
offenders.  Appropriate  methods  of  treatment  can 
never  be  arrived  at  by  the  application  of  any  hard- 
and-fast  rule.  Each  case  presents  peculiarities  and 
distinctive  features,  and  it  is  only  after  all  circum- 
stances have  been  allowed  their  proper  weight  that 
a  wise  judgment  is  in  the  end  attained. 

As  a  rule  it  is  undesirable  that  very  young  children 
should  be  committed  to  corrective  institutions.  Ac- 
cording to  the  returns  for  1893  forty-seven  infants 
under  six  years  of  age  were  committed  to  industrial 
schools  in  England,  and  347  boys  and  girls  between 
the  ages  of  six  and  eight.  Some  of  these  little  ones 
were,  it  is  true,  sent  to  day  industrial  and  truant 
schools,  but  a  considerable  proportion  of  them  were 
committed  to  the  ordinary  industrial  school.  No 
doubt  there  are  cases  in  which  other  circumstances 
beside  the  element  of  age  have  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  dealing  with  little  children.  Evil  habits 
arising  from  constant  contact  with  vicious  or  crmiinal 
surroundings  are  sometimes  developed  at  a  very 
tender  age.  But  as  a  rule  these  habits  are  not  deep- 
seated,  and  when  this  is  the  case  it  is  a  mistake  to 
commit  little  children  to  ordinary  industrial  schools. 
The  rules,  the  daily  duties,  the  whole  arrangements 
of  these  institutions  are  designed  for  older  children. 
The  younger  ones  have  in  the  main  to  conform  to  a 
set  of  regulations  which  is  not  in  the  first  instance 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  29 1 

intended  for  them,  and  the  result  is  that  a  strain  is 
put  upon  them  which  they  are  not  ahvays  able  to 
bear.  According  to  the  evidence  given  before  the 
Commission  on  Secondary  Education,  children  under 
eight  years  of  age,  if  they  are  to  be  kept  in  health, 
should  have  five  meals  a  day  and  from  eleven  to 
twelve  hours'  sleep.  But  where  corrective  institutions 
are  worked  upon  hard-and-fast  regulations  very  little 
attention  is  paid  to  the  dissimilarity  of  treatment 
required  for  children  of  dissimilar  ages,  and  the 
}-ounger  children  are  in  danger  of  being  sacrificed 
to  the  older  ones.  Many  of  the  children  committed 
to  industrial  schools  are  really  cases  for  poor-law 
schools,  or  cases  in  which  judicious  boarding  out 
would  be  the  best  specific.  As  a  rule  children  under 
the  age  of  ten  should  not  be  committed  to  an  ordinary 
industrial  school.  Where  children  under  this  age  are 
committed  they  should  not  be  subjected  to  the  regu- 
lations in  force  for  older  hoys. 

Children  may  be  committed  to  day  industrial  and 
truant  schools  at  an  earlier  age  than  is  desirable  in 
the  case  of  children  sent  to  the  ordinary  industrial 
school.  Day  industrial  schools  should  as  a  rule  be 
used  for  children  who  are  unable  on  account  of 
poverty  to  attend  the  ordinary  national  school.  In 
our  large  centres  of  industry  there  is  a  considerable 
proportion  of  children  in  such  wretched  material 
circumstances  that  it  is  undesirable  to  place  them 
amongst  the  ordinary  school  population.  Children 
are  very  keen  to  detect  differences  between  them- 
selves and  others,  and  an  ill-cared  for  and  poorly  clad 
child  is  apt  to  be  subjected    to   treatment  from  his 


292  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

fellows  at  an  ordinary  school  which  makes  school  life  a 
misery  and  burden  to  him.  For  children  of  this  class 
a  day  industrial  school  is  a  most  useful  institution, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  children  in  these  schools  are  at 
home  in  the  evening,  the  tie  between  the  parent  and 
the  child  is  not  broken.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
industrial  training  in  day  industrial  schools  is  con- 
ducted on  satisfactory  principles.  In  some  schools  too 
much  time  seems  to  be  occupied  in  wood-chopping, 
mat-making,  and  work  of  an  analogous  character. 
What  most  of  the  children  in  day  industrial  schools 
require  is  a  sound  training  in  the  elements  of  know- 
ledge. Many  of  these  children  are  too  young  to  be 
subjected  to  industrial  discipline  of  a  serious  kind, 
and  it  is  a  mistake  to  assimilate  the  routine  of  these 
schools  too  closely  to  the  system  which  prevails  in 
the  ordinary  industrial  school.  The  children  com- 
mitted to  truant  schools  are,  as  a  rule,  backward 
children  who  are  unable,  from  natural  incapacity  or 
from  irregularity  of  attendance,  to  keep  abreast  of 
children  of  their  own  age.  The  principal  cause  of 
truancy  is  backwardness,  and  the  primary  object  of 
a  truant  school  should  be  to  bring  the  child  into  line 
educationally  with  children  of  a  similar  age.  As  soon 
as  a  child  is  able  to  hold  his  own  in  class  with  other 
children  he  is  no  longer  afraid  of  school,  and  the  chief 
cause  of  truancy  disappears.  But  until  a  child  is 
placed  in  this  position  school  life  will  always  be  a 
source  of  terror  and  apprehension  to  him.  According 
to  the  late  Inspector  of  Reformatory  and  Industrial 
Schools,  a  child  often  goes  to  the  truant  school 
"  discouraged   and   hopeless,  and  the  object   of  the 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  293 

school  is  to  establish  the  boy  in  his  standard  and 
to  give  him  confidence  and  assurance  as  to  his  own 
ability,  so  far  as  it  goes."  It  should  be  a  compara- 
tively easy  matter  for  truant  schools  conducted  on 
sound  principles  to  deal  satisfactorily  with  children 
who  are  backward  merely  owing  to  irregularity  of 
attendance.  Assiduous  attention  to  the  educational 
defects  of  these  children  will  soon  be  rewarded  by  an 
improved  standard  of  efficiency,  and  everything  at 
the  truant  school  should  be  subordinated  to  securing 
this  supreme  end.  It  is  a  much  more  difficult  pro- 
blem to  deal  effectually  with  children  of  dull  and 
defective  capacity.  The  child  population  of  the 
country  contains  a  certain  percentage  of  this  unpro- 
mising material,  and  there  are  cases  where  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  put  such  children  on  an  educational 
level  with  their  equals  in  years.  But  until  this  is 
done  the  great  cause  of  truancy  will  remain,  and  with 
it  will  remain  the  temptation  for  the  child  to  absent 
himself  from  school.  Where  the  truant  school  has  to 
deal  with  children  of  this  description,  it  is  often  safer 
in  the  interests  of  society  that  the  child  should  be 
detained  till  the  period  of  school  age  is  over.  In  the 
truant  school  the  juvenile  will  at  least  be  taught  those 
habits  of  order  and  regularity  which  are  essential  to 
success  in  industrial  life,  and  which  will  stand  him  in 
good  stead  when  he  is  old  enough  to  begin  to  earn 
his  living  in  the  field,  the  factory,  or  the  workshop. 

Children,  as  a  rule,  are  detained  from  three  to  four 
months  in  truant  schools,  and  in  several  of  these 
institutions  they  are  subjected  to  treatment  which  in 
the  opinion  of  competent  observers  is  too  strict  and 


294  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

severe.  According  to  the  official  returns  the  children 
in  some  of  these  schools  are  only  allowed  half  an 
hour's  play  during  the  whole  day,  there  is  an  excess 
of  corporal  punishment,  too  little  recreation,  and  no 
incentive  to  industry  in  the  shape  of  reward  for  good 
conduct.  Sometimes  the  children  admitted  to  truant 
schools  are  unwell  when  they  arrive,  and  in  many 
cases  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  cause  of  truancy  is  in 
reality  ill-health  as  much  as  anything  else.  In  such 
circumstances  it  is  most  essential  that  truant  schools 
should  be  managed  with  the  utmost  discrimination, 
and  that  the  children  should  be  individualised  and 
not  dealt  with  in  the  mass.  In  these  schools  the  dull 
child,  the  sickly  child,  the  neglected  child,  the  way- 
ward child  are  all  collected  together.  Each  of  these 
classes  of  children  requires  treatment  adapted  to  its 
individual  characteristics,  and  the  success  of  the 
school  as  an  instrument  of  social  security  will  depend 
upon  the  extent  to  which  this  individualising  process 
is  carried  out.  In  each  case  inquiry  must  be  made 
as  to  the  set  of  circumstances  which  have  made  the 
child  a  truant,  and  the  efforts  of  the  management 
must  be  directed  towards  removing  these  adverse 
circumstances  wherever  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  In 
cases  where  the  adverse  conditions  cannot  altogether 
be  removed,  then  attention  must  be  directed  towards 
the  best  means  of  mitigating  them. 

As  truant  schools  are  at  present  conducted  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  the  inmates  of  some  of  them  are 
treated  too  much  as  if  they  were  criminal  prisoners. 
Classification  according  to  the  causes  which  have  pro- 
duced truancy,  and  individualisation,  based  upon  classi- 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  295 

fication,  are  the  only  sound  principles  of  dealing  with 
children  in  truant  schools.  In  these  institutions  too 
much  reliance  must  not  be  attached  to  mere  repres- 
sion. Severity  of  treatment  will  never  remove  the 
conditions  which  produce  truancy.  In  most  cases  this 
kind  of  discipline  has  a  hardening  and  brutalising 
effect  ;  it  deadens  the  sensibilities  of  the  young  heart, 
and  when  this  is  the  result  the  truant  very  often 
degenerates  into  a  criminal  in  after  years.  The 
cellular  punishments  which  are  resorted  to  in  some 
truant  schools  are  an  admirable  preliminary  prepara- 
tion for  the  prison  cell,  and  it  will  generally  be  found 
that  the  class  of  children  who  take  kindly  to  the 
isolation  cf  the  prison  cell  are  children  who  have 
already  had  experience  of  a  similar  kind  of  punish- 
ment in  the  truant  school.  No  surer  method  can  be 
adopted  of  utterly  destroying  any  deterrent  effect 
which  imprisonment  may  possess  than  the  method  of 
accustoming  children  in  corrective  institutions  to 
cellular  confinement.  Among  children  who  have 
passed  through  this  ordeal  imprisonment  is  accepted 
with  indifference  ;  in  their  minds  the  terrors  of  the 
law  have  practically  ceased  to  exist. 

While  the  English  law  allows  children  to  be 
committed  to  corrective  institutions  at  an  exceed- 
ingly tender  age,  it  forbids  any  juvenile  offender  who 
has  passed  the  age  of  sixteen  to  be  committed  to 
establishments  of  an  educational  character.  England 
has  no  place  of  detention  for  juveniles  over 
sixteen  except  a  prison,  and  even  in  prisons  all 
juveniles  over  the  age  of  sixteen  are  treated  as  if 
they  were  men.     A  very  different  method  of  dealing 


296  JUVENILE   OFFEXDERS. 

with  young  offenders  exists  in  the  United  States. 
In  the  state  of  New  York  offenders  who  have 
become  criminals  for  the  first  time  may  be  committed 
to  reformatory  institutions  between  the  ages  of 
sixteen  and  thirty.  In  the  Massachusetts  refor- 
matory at  Concord  the  average  age  of  the  inmates 
is  twenty-two.  In  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  the  in- 
dustrial reformatory  at  Huntingdon  receives  offenders 
between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-five.  In  the 
state  of  Minnesota  the  average  age  of  the  inmates 
is  about  twenty-two,  and  in  Illinois  the  range  of  age 
is  between  sixteen  and  twenty-one. 

Wherever  we  look  for  expressions  of  opinion  on  the 
subject  of  juvenile  crime,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
tendency  of  the  present  time  is  to  raise  the  limits  of 
age  at  which  a  juvenile  may  be  committed  to  educa- 
tional establishments.  In  an  admirable  report  pre- 
sented by  Dr.  Appelius  to  the  International  Union  of 
Penal  Law  it  is  recommended  that  juveniles  should 
be  allowed  the  benefits  of  educational  institutions  up 
to  the  age  of  eighteen.  In  the  proposed  penal  code 
for  the  Swiss  Confederation  which  has  been  drafted 
by  Professor  Stoos  at  the  request  of  the  Swiss  Federal 
Council,  it  is  proposed  that  juveniles  under  the  age 
of  eighteen  may  be  committed  to  corrective  institu- 
tions. Professor  Stoos  justifies  his  proposal  on  the 
following  grounds :  "  It  is  only  by  degrees  that  a 
juvenile  acquires  physical  and  mental  development. 
The  period  of  transition  falls  as  a  rule  between  the 
fourteenth  and  the  eighteenth  year.  During  this 
period  a  juvenile  possesses  penal  capacity,  but  he 
ought  not  to  be  dealt  with  as  if  he  were  an  adult. 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIOXS.  297 

Up  to  the  present  time,  and  under  the  influence  of 
French  legislation,  the  degree  of  discernment  ex- 
hibited by  a  juvenile  has  always  been  the  chief  point 
for  consideration.  But  what  is  lacking  in  a  juvenile 
is  not  so  much  the  faculty  of  discerning  whether  his 
conduct  is  wrong  and  deserves  punishment,  as  the 
power  to  conform  to  what  he  knoivs  to  be  right,  the 
power  to  resist  the  solicitations  of  evil — in  a  word, 
what  a  juvenile  lacks  is  maturity  of  character." 

Maturity  of  character  is  largely  dependent  on 
physical  maturity,  and,  according  to  the  evidence  of 
Dr.  Roberts  before  the  Secondary  Education  Commis- 
sion, the  children  of  the  poorer  classes  do  not  attain 
physical  maturity  till  they  have  reached  their  twenty- 
fifth  or  twenty-sixth  year.  "  The  size  of  the  body," 
says  Dr.  Roberts,  "  as  determined  by  stature,  weight, 
and  chest  girth,  has  definite  relations  to  precocity 
and  dulness  of  intellect  in  children.  When  we 
examine  children  anthropometrically  we  find  that 
the  more  intelligent  classes  are  taller  and  heavier  at 
corresponding  ages  than  the  less  intelligent,  the  most 
favoured  classes  than  the  less  favoured  classes.  Full 
growth  in  stature  is  attained  in  the  professional 
classes  about  the  twenty-first  year,  but  in  the  poorer 
classes  not  before  the  twenty-fifth  or  twenty-sixth 
year.  Thus  just  as  girls  attain  maturity  earlier  than 
boys  of  corresponding  classes,  so  the  better  class 
boys  attain  maturity  earlier  than  boys  of  the  poorer 
classes.  When  I  state,  therefore,  that  big  boys  are 
more  precocious  than  small  boys,  I  am  stating  in 
another  way  the  fact  that  big  boys  are  more  de- 
veloped than  little  boys  mentally  as  well  as  physically, 


298  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

and  more  work  both  mental  and  physical  may  be 
required  of  them."  If  the  investigations  of  Dr. 
Roberts  are  correct  (they  are  accepted  by  other 
investigators  of  equal  eminence)  as  to  the  age  when 
bodily  and  mental  maturity  is  attained  among  the 
poorer  classes,  our  existing  penal  laws  and  our 
present  methods  of  administration,  in  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  juveniles  over  sixteen,  are  at  once  cruel  and 
absurd.  American  legislation  is,  on  the  whole,  based 
upon  much  more  defensible  principles,  and  it  is  along 
the  lines  laid  down  by  the  American  people  that 
European  legislation  will  sooner  or  later  have  to 
move. 

A  tendency  to  move  in  this  direction  has  been 
exhibiting  itself  in  England  for  several  years,  but 
so  far  without  any  practical  results.  The  managers 
and  superintendents  of  reformatory  schools  have 
been  contending  that  they  are  quite  able  to  deal 
with  juvenile  offenders  admitted  into  their  estab- 
lishments at  the  age  of  eighteen.  The  report  of  the 
Departmental  Committee  on  Prisons  recommends 
that  the  age  of  admission  to  reformatories  should  be 
raised  to  eighteen,  and  the  ultimate  limit  of  detention 
to  twenty-one.  This  Committee  also  recommends 
that  the  experiment  should  be  tried  of  establishing 
a  special  penal  institution  for  offenders  under  the  age 
of  twenty-three.  "  The  initial  cost  of  this  experi- 
ment," says  the  Committee's  report,  "  would  not  be 
great.  It  might  lead  to  the  closing  of  one  or  two 
prisons  occupying  sites  in  large  towns,  an  effect 
desirable  in  itself ;  and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  belie\'e 
that  it  would  draw  upon  the  main  source  of  habitual 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  299 

criminality  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  We  look 
upon  this  plan  in  conjunction  with  the  raising  of  the 
age  of  admission  to  reformatories  as  the  best  proposal 
that  is  open  to  us  for  the  rescue  of  young  offenders. 
Under  the  present  system  numbers  of  them  come 
out  of  prison  in  a  condition  as  bad  or  worse  than 
that  in  which  they  entered  it.  They  go  out  with 
the  prison  taint  on  them.  The  available  prison  staff 
and  the  rigid  system  of  prison  discipline,  without  any 
fault  on  the  part  of  the  officials,  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  bringing  to  bear  on  the  prison  population 
the  moral  suasion  and  the  healthy  practical  advice 
which  we  think  could  be  exercised  by  a  trained  and 
selected  staff  in  a  penal  reformatory."  It  will  be 
seen  that  these  recommendations  point  to  the  adop- 
tion of  a  s}-stem  of  dealing  with  the  older  class  of 
young  offenders  on  principles  somewhat  similar  to 
the  system  which  is  in  operation  in  several  states  of 
the  American  Union.  The  fundamental  idea  at  the 
root  of  this  system  is  that  remedial  agencies  should 
play  a  large  part  in  the  treatment  of  offenders  until 
maturity  of  character  has  been  attained,  and  among 
the  class  from  which  the  bulk  of  the  criminal  popula- 
tion is  recruited  maturity  of  character  is  not  reached 
till  the  age  of  twenty-five. 

In  order  that  society  may  derive  the  utmost 
possible  benefit  from  corrective  institutions  it  is 
essential  that  these  institutions  should  be  properly 
classified.  In  a  proper  system  of  classification  the 
age,  the  sex,  the  individual  and  social  circumstances 
of  the  offender,  as  well  as  the  offence  which  he  has 
committed,  should  all  be  taken  into  careful  considera- 


300  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

tion.  If  all  sorts  of  offenders  are  mixed  up  together, 
and  all  are  subjected  to  precisely  the  same  kind  of 
regimen,  a  certain  dead  level  of  uniformity  in  external 
demeanour  will  be  obtained,  but  comparatively  little 
effect  will  be  produced  upon  the  springs  of  conduct, 
and  when  a  juvenile  growing  up  under  such  con- 
ditions is  again  let  loose  in  society,  he  will  be  in 
danger  of  returning  to  habits  which  have  been 
temporarily  repressed,  but  never  eradicated.  In 
Great  Britain  the  classification  of  corrective  institu- 
tions which  at  present  exists  is  a  classification  in 
name  rather  than  in  reality.  We  have  day  industrial 
schools,  truant  schools,  ordinary  industrial  schools, 
reformatory  schools,  all  certified  by  government,  and 
in  addition  a  vast  number  of  voluntary  homes  for 
juveniles  which  are  not  in  any  way  under  government 
control.  The  classification  of  the  children  committed 
to  these  schools  is  of  a  very  rudimentary  character. 
Classification  according  to  sex  prevails  in  most  of 
them,  but  a  matter  of  quite  as  great  importance, 
classification  according  to  age,  exists  to  a  very  limited 
extent.  In  reformatory  schools  children  under  ten 
years  of  age  are  associated  with  youths  of  eighteexi 
and  twenty.  In  industrial  schools  infants  under  six 
are  sometimes  mixed  up  with  boys  of  fifteen  and 
sixteen.  Except  in  schools  such  as  the  institution 
at  Redhill,  where  the  inmates  live  in  different  houses, 
it  is  impossible  to  deal  with  children  varying  so 
much  in  age  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

Even  at  some  of  the  best-conducted  institutions  it 
will  be  observed  that  the  time-table  for  the  boy  of 
twelve  is  exactly  the  same  as  the  time-table  for  the 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIOXS.  3OI 

boy  of  eighteen.  In  other  words,  the  Hfe  of  the  boy 
of  twelve  is  mapped  out  on  exactly  the  same  plan  as 
the  daily  life  of  the  youth  of  eighteen.  Both  boys, 
though  differing  so  much  in  age,  have  to  rise  at  the 
same  time  in  the  morning,  and  retire  at  the  same 
time  in  the  evening  to  rest.  Both  boys  are  allotted 
the  same  time  for  work,  food,  and  recreation.  As  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  gather  from  the  time-table,  children 
of  twelve  are  treated  as  if  they  possessed  the  same 
physical  and  mental  development  as  youths  who  are 
approaching  maturity.  According  to  the  teachings 
of  physiology,  not  to  mention  the  teachings  of 
common  sense,  a  boy  of  twelve  should  not  be 
subjected  to  the  same  regimen  as  boys  considerably 
his  senior  in  years.  The  younger  boy  requires  more 
sleep  and  rest,  he  requires  more  time  for  meals,  he 
requires  more  play,  games,  and  exercises,  and  he 
should  have  less  school  and  industrial  work  imposed 
upon  him.  But  in  institutions  where  boys  cannot 
be  classified  in  different  houses  it  is  difficult  to 
arrange  a  variety  of  time-tables  adapted  to  the 
ages  of  the  inmates.  To  work  smoothly  the  insti- 
tution must  be  administered  as  closely  as  possible 
upon  a  uniform  plan.  But  in  order  that  uniformity 
may  not  be  purchased  at  the  expense  of  efficiency, 
it  is  essential  that  classification  according  to  age 
should  prevail  in  corrective  institutions. 

Classification  of  juveniles  according  to  offence  is 
also  largely  overlooked  in  juvenile  institutions  in 
Great  Britain.  Children  who  are  orphans  and 
deserted,  and  are  merely  suffering  from  want  of 
parental  care,  are  often  mixed  up  in  the  same 
21 


302  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

establishment  with  children  charged  with  offences 
against  the  criminal  law.  A  number  of  the  children 
at  present  confined  in  ordinary  industrial  schools  are 
the  children  of  parents  who,  according  to  the  Educa- 
tion Acts,  habitually  and  without  reasonable  excuse, 
neglect  to  provide  efficient  elementary  education  for 
their  offspring.  These  institutions  also  contain  a 
certain  number  of  children  charged  with  theft  and 
other  offences  of  a  criminal  character.  In  reforma- 
tory schools  children  who  are  found  begging  and 
sleeping  out,  or  who  have  committed  some  offence 
against  the  regulations  of  the  poor-house,  are  classed 
together  with  juveniles  convicted  of  such  serious 
crimes  as  burglary  and  housebreaking.  It  was  the 
original  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Industrial 
and  Reformatory  School  Acts  that  industrial  schools 
were  to  be  used  for  children  who  were  in  material 
and  moral  danger  of  becoming  criminals,  whilst 
reformatory  schools  were  to  be  utilised  for  juveniles 
who  had  actually  committed  offences  against  the 
penal  law.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  distinction 
has  been  to  some  extent  lost  sight  of,  and  in  practice 
reformatory  and  industrial  schools  have  tended  to 
become  in  many  respects  institutions  of  a  very  similar 
character. 

In  the  classification  of  juveniles  it  has  been 
pointed  out  that  the  age  of  the  offender  and 
the  nature  of  the  offence  are  two  questions  which 
should  always  be  taken  into  consideration,  but  it 
would  be  unwise  to  classify  children  in  accordance 
with  age  and  offence  alone.  Other  circumstances 
also  require  to  be  considered,  such  as  the  character, 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  303 

the  constitution,  and  the  parental  condition  of  the 
child.  One  child  convicted  of  begging  or  wandering 
may  be  much  more  depraved  in  character  than 
another  child  convicted  of  theft,  and  sometimes  a 
boy  of  twelve  is  at  a  lower  moral  level  than  another 
at  sixteen,  although  the  offences  committed  by  both 
are  exactly  the  same.  In  deciding  on  the  kind  of 
institution  to  which  a  juvenile  should  be  committed 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  judge  or  magistrate  has  a 
delicate  and  difficult  task  before  him.  He  has  not 
only  to  take  account  of  such  obvious  facts  as  the 
age  of  the  offender  and  the  nature  of  the  offence,  but 
all  the  more  remote  individual  and  social  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  offender.  But  the  duties 
of  the  judicial  authorities  would  be  very  much 
facilitated  if  corrective  institutions  were  classified  on 
clearly  defined  principles. 

A  proper  system  of  classification,  for  instance,  would 
confine  the  operation  of  the  day  industrial  school  to 
cases  where  the  child  was  unable  through  poverty  to 
attend  the  ordinary  board  school.  It  would  confine 
the  truant  school  to  cases  in  which  the  child,  either 
through  his  own  fault  or  the  fault  of  the  parents,  or  from 
a  combination  of  both  circumstances,  was  habitually 
absent  from  school.  On  the  other  hand,  the  distinc- 
tion in  name  between  industrial  and  reformatory 
schools  should  be  abolished,  and  both  sets  of  institu- 
tions should  receive  the  common  appellation  of 
industrial  schools.  They  should  be  restricted  in 
their  operations  to  the  reception  of  juveniles  who 
had  actually  fallen  into  crime.  If  these  principles 
of  classification  were  adopted  many  children  of  the 


304  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

type  which  is  now  to  be  found  in  industrial  schools 
would  have  to  be  provided  for  in  another  manner. 
Some  of  them  would  be  provided  for  in  truant 
schools,  others  would  be  provided  for  in  day  in- 
dustrial schools  ;  the  remainder  would  be  provided 
for  in  poor-law  schools,  or  judiciously  boarded  out, 
or  remain,  as  in  Massachusetts,  with  their  parents, 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  a  special  agent. 

What  all  these  children  require,  to  whatever  class 
they  may  belong,  is  moral,  mental,  physical,  and 
industrial  education.  The  supreme  authority  in 
charge  of  delinquent  and  dependent  children  should 
be  the  Education  Department  of  the  State.  So  long 
as  these  children  are  looked  at  as  at  present  through 
the  eyes  of  the  Criminal  Department,  or  through  the 
eyes  of  the  Pauper  Department,  they  will  not  receive 
the  humane  consideration  to  which  their  miseries 
entitle  them,  and  society  will  be  punished  for  refusing 
them  .  this  consideration  by  seeing  an  ominous  per- 
centage of  them  relapsing  into  a  life  of  habitual 
criminality,  and  becoming  a  permanent  danger  to 
the  community. 

A  classification  of  corrective  institutions  is,  as  has 
been  said,  the  first  step  towards  a  more  efficient 
method  of  dealing  with  juvenile  offenders.  But 
classification  will  fall  short  of  its  ultimate  end  unless 
it  is  supplemented  by  individualisation.  All  that  a 
sound  principle  of  classification  can  effect  is  to 
enable  a  juvenile  to  be  sent  to  the  right  kind  of 
institution.  It  is  individualisation  which  ensures  that 
he  shall  receive  the  right  kind  of  treatment  after  he 
has  been  admitted.      The  object  of  classification  is 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  305 

to  facilitate  the  task  of  individualisation.  Each  child 
has  a  certain  number  of  characteristics  in  common 
with  other  children  of  the  same  age  and  with  child- 
hood as  a  whole.  But  he  has  also  a  group  of 
characteristics  which  are  peculiar  to  himself.  It 
is  these  characteristics  which  constitute  his  indi- 
viduality. Classification  can  never  be  made  so 
complete  or  proceed  so  far  as  to  take  account  of 
individuality.  It  must  at  best  stop  short  at  simi- 
larities such  as  age,  sex,  and  so  on,  which  do  not  go 
down  to  the  roots  of  personal  character.  Behind 
these  similarities  are  fundamental  idiosyncrasies  of 
mind  and  temperament  which  are  peculiar  to  each 
individual.  These  idiosyncrasies  can  be  modified 
and  moulded  by  education  and  surroundings,  but  in 
every  rational  system  of  dealing  with  the  young 
they  must  be  considered  and  respected. 

The  only  way  in  which  it  is  possible  to  individualise 
the  treatment  of  juvenile  offenders  ;  to  deal  with  each 
child  in  accordance  with  its  personal  characteristics 
of  mind  and  temperament,  consists  in  working 
corrective  institutions  on  a  comparatively  small 
scale.  The  results  of  all  recent  inquiries  as  to  the 
best  methods  of  dealing  with  children  in  institutions 
are  unanimous  upon  this  point.  The  report  of  the 
Reformatory  and  Industrial  Schools  Commission 
says  that  "  it  is  in  the  smaller  schools  that  the 
personal  influence  of  the  superintendent  can  be 
applied  with  the  most  satisfactory  results  to  every 
individual  boy  or  girl  in  the  school,  and  to  those 
who  having  left  it  can  still  benefit  by  the  watchful 
guidance  and  sympathy  of  a  superintendent  who  has 


30^  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

acquired   a    knowledge  of   their   characters   and   an 
influence   over   them    for   good.      The    difficulty   of 
acquiring  such   a  knowledge  and  influence  increases 
in    direct   proportion   to   the   numbers  of  the  school. 
And    seeing   that  in   most  cases  the  neglect  of  the 
parent  has  been   the  cause  of  the  committal  of  the 
child,    and    that   this   neglect   must   be   repaired  by 
the    influence   of   those    who  stand   in  loco  parentis, 
there  are  strong  reasons    for  keeping   reformatories 
and  industrial  schools  as  small  as  local  circumstances 
will  allow,  so  that  each   boy  or  girl  may  receive  as 
much   personal    care   and    interest  as  can    be  given 
in   an  institution  which  is    necessarily  an    imperfect 
substitute    for   home."      These  remarks    are  in  sub- 
stantial   agreement   with    the   opinions   of    a   Select 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  operation 
of  the  Poor  Law.     "  There  are  serious  disadvantages." 
say  the  Committee,  "  which  are  inseparable  from  any 
system  under  which  a  number  of  children  are  brougrht 
up    together    without   any    home    influence    or    any 
contact  with  the  outer  world,  but  we  cannot  doubt 
that    they    are    much   aggravated    by  the  overgrown 
size  of  the  metropolitan  district  schools." 

Similar  expressions  of  opinion  as  to  the  desirability 
of  smaller  institutions,  so  as  to  secure  greater  in- 
dividuality of  treatment,  reach  us  from  the  United 
States.  At  a  conference  held  in  New  York  in 
1893  on  the  care  of  dependent  and  delinquent 
children,  Mrs.  Charles  Russell  Lowell  said  that 
"  thousands  of  children  who  ought  to  receive  the 
training  of  family  life  are,  on  the  contrary,  living  in 
the    unnatural  isolation  of  a  crowd  of  children  like 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  307 

themselves,  and  subject  to  institution  training  which 
must  destroy  in  almost  all  the  capacity  to  meet  the 
difficulties  and  temptations  to  which  they  will  be 
exposed  as  soon  as  they  begin  life  for  themselves. 
What  preparation  for  independent  action  can  be 
found  in  a  life  the  one  necessity  of  which  is  absolute 
dependence  upon  and  conformity  to  rule?  What 
room  is  there  for  the  development  or  exercise  of 
energy  or  invention  in  a  life  where  everything  is 
ready  to  hand  and  prepared  by  machinery?  What 
chance  is  there  for  a  child  to  learn  the  value  of 
property  or  the  difference  between  meuni  and  tuuni 
where  everything,  even  the  clothing,  belongs  to  no 
one  individual  but  to  the  whole  community  ?  What 
sense  of  personal  love  or  care  can  be  felt  when  the 
child  is  one  of  a  thousand  or  even  of  a  hundred 
marshalled  and  drilled  in  companies,  from  getting  up 
in  the  morning  until  going  to  bed  at  night  ?  Fancy 
the  stultification  of  mind  and  soul  which  must  follow 
from  such  conditions.  Yet  these  conditions  are,  I 
believe,  inevitable  even  in  the  best  of  our  institutions, 
for  there  are  only  four  on  the  whole  list  of  those  of 
which  I  am  speaking  which  have  less  than  a  hundred 
inmates." 

The  impossibility  of  individualisation  in  large 
schools  and  the  serious  evils  arising  out  of  the 
absence  of  it  are  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  report 
of  the  Committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
administration  of  Poor  Law  Schools  in  London. 
"  It  is  impossible,"  says  one  witness,  "  in  those  large 
schools  for  anybody,  no  matter  who  they  are,  to 
manage    them    so    as    in    any    way    to    touch    the 


308  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

children  as  individuals,  even  to  know  their  names.' 
"  When  children  are  not  touched  as  individuals 
it  is  necessary,"  says  the  report,  "  to  maintain  a 
rigid  system  of  discipline  as  well  as  an  effective 
quarantine,  and  thus  it  becomes  impracticable  to 
vary  the  life  of  the  inmates  by  walking  out,  shopping, 
returning  to  their  homes  or  friends  for  short  holidays, 
and  mixing  with  the  outside  world.  The  children 
under  such  conditions  have  a  tendency  to  become 
dull,  sullen,  and  mechanical,  and  to  lose  interest  alike 
in  work  and  play.  The  standard  of  health  among 
them  is  lower  than  that  of  children  living  under 
ordinary  conditions.  The  use  of  machinery  and 
other  appliances  for  the  performance  of  domestic 
duties  is  so  extensive  that  the  children  never  see  the 
simple  methods  of  ordinary  homes  and  do  not  learn 
to  manage  for  themselves." 

It  is  only  right  to  mention  on  behalf  of  the  insti- 
tutions in  existence  in  Great  Britain  for  juvenile 
offenders  that  very  few  of  them  contain  the  vast 
number  of  children  which  are  sometimes  to  be  found 
in  poor-law  schools.  None  of  the  reformatories  for 
girls,  either  in  England  or  Scotland,  contain  an 
average  population  of  a  hundred  inmates.  In  the 
reformatories  for  boys  the  aggregation  of  the  inmates 
is  considerably  higher,  but  none  of  these  institutions 
reach  an  average  population  of  three  hundred.  Most 
of  them  have  a  population  of  less  than  one  hundred, 
and  a  considerable  proportion  range  between  one  and 
two  hundred  under  detention.  In  industrial  schools, 
and  more  particularly  in  industrial  school  ships,  the 
average  child    population  sometimes   exceeds   three 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  309 

hundred.  But  a  large  number  of  these  schools  are 
also  of  comparatively  small  dimensions.  In  cases 
where  corrective  institutions  contain  a  large  number 
of  inmates  it  is  essential  that  such  institutions  should 
be  divided  into  sections,  and  that  each  section  should 
be  placed  in  charge  of  a  superintendent  who  will  be 
able  to  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  capacity, 
disposition  and  aptitudes  of  every  individual  child. 
It  is  only  in  this  way  that  the  dangers  of  aggre- 
gation can  be  minimised,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent 
obviated. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  delicate  and  difficult  task 
of  individualisation  all  children  admitted  to  corrective 
establishments  should  be  submitted  to  a  careful 
examination.  This  examination  should  take  the 
form  of  a  thorough  inquiry  into  the  bodily  and 
mental  condition  of  the  child.  It  has  already  been 
pointed  out  that  a  considerable  percentage  of  the 
juveniles  under  detention  in  corrective  institutions 
are  below  the  average  of  the  general  juvenile  popu- 
lation of  the  same  age  and  sex.  They  are  more 
stunted  in  growth  and  are  lighter  in  weight,  they 
suffer  from  a  larger  proportion  of  defects  of  develop- 
ment, they  exhibit  a  higher  percentage  of  mental 
dulness.  At  present  the  tendency  of  institutional 
life  is  to  aggravate  the  physical  and  mental  defects 
of  the  juveniles  who  reside  in  them.^  This  is  not  an 
inevitable  accompaniment  of  institutional  life.  It 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  children  are  dealt  with 
too  much  in   the   mass.      The  only  way   to  remedy 

«  See  Report  on  the  Mental  and   Physical  Conditions  of  Child- 
hood, p.  55. 


3IO  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

this  fundamental  evil  is  to  submit  the  children  to 
such  an  examination  as  will  enable  the  persons  in 
charge  of  them  to  know  what  they  can  do  and  what 
they  cannot  do.  If  children  are  forced  to  pass 
through  a  course  of  discipline  which  they  are  either 
physically  or  mentally  unfitted  for,  the  result  of  such 
a  system  is  certain  to  intensify  and  aggravate  their 
congenital  or  acquired  defects.  Another  serious  evil 
arising  from  a  want  of  knowledge  of  the  bodily  and 
mental  capacities  of  children  in  corrective  institutions 
is  that  they  are  in  danger  of  being  subjected  to 
mistaken  harshness.  Actual  want  of  ability  is  mis- 
taken for  idleness,  carelessness,  or  want  of  will, 
and  punishment  is  inflicted  when  it  is  out  of 
place. 

In  order  to  keep  in  the  closest  possible  touch  with 
the  capacities  of  juveniles  in  corrective  institutions 
the  bodily  as  well  as  the  mental  examination  of  the 
inmates  should  be  repeated  at  stated  intervals.  At 
the  present  time  the  greatest  amount  of  stress  appears 
to  be  laid  on  the  progress  made  in  intellectual  acquire- 
ments, but  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  the  future  of 
these  children  on  liberation  will  depend  quite  as 
much  on  their  capacity  for  bodily  exertion  as  on 
their  mental  knowledge.  It  is  by  hard  manual  labour 
that  most  of  them  will  have  to  earn  a  living,  and 
physical  vigour  will  be  as  indispensable  to  them  as 
mental  vigour.  Unless  they  possess  material  back- 
bone they  are  only  too  likely  to  fall  back  into  the 
ranks  of  the  criminal  population,  no  matter  how 
anxious  they  may  be  to  do  well  when  they  start 
again  in  the  world.     In  France   the    importance  of 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  3 1  I 

periodically  examining  the  physical  condition  of 
juvenile  offenders  is  adequately  appreciated  by  the 
central  administration.  "  The  object  of  the  law," 
says  M.  Raux,  an  eminent  penitentiary  official,  "  is 
to  liberate  the  pupils  of  the  State  from  corrective 
institutions  sound  and  robust  in  body  as  well  as  in 
mind.  Our  duty  is  to  utilise  every  method  calculated 
to  maintain  health  and  to  assure  a  maximum  of 
development  to  all  the  organs."  In  order  to  give 
practical  effect  to  this  purpose  M.  Raux  says  that 
the  central  administration  requires  the  heads  of  all 
establishments  to  subject  the  inmates  to  a  careful 
physical  examination  every  six  months.  It  is  only 
in  this  way,  he  tells  us,  that  it  is  possible  to  detect 
sudden  stoppages  of  development  and  to  find  out 
the  causes  of  them.  The  result  of  these  inquiries  is 
to  show  that  a  certain  percentage  of  juveniles  under 
detention  hardly  develop  at  all.  They  have  suffered 
so  many  hardships  before  admission  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  restore  their  prematurely  exhausted  forces. 
Their  members  are  atrophied,  and  a  life  of  privation 
has  paralysed  their  powers  of  growth.  With  material 
of  this  description  it  is  impossible  to  do  much,  but 
the  duty  of  the  State  towards  these  unhappy  victims 
of  heredity  and  surroundings  is  just  as  great  as  its 
duty  towards  the  robust  and  normal.  Its  first  and 
most  imperative  duty  is  to  know  in  what  proportions 
this  class  of  children  are  to  be  found  in  corrective 
institutions.  The  only  way  in  which  they  can  be 
known  is  by  means  of  a  periodical  examination  of 
the  physical  condition  of  all  the  inmates.  A  system 
of   this    kind    would    tend    to    prevent    many    feeble 


312  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

children  from  being  subjected  to  unmerited  hardships 
when  under  detention,  it  would  lead  to  a  more 
individualised  method  of  treatment  for  such  cases, 
and  it  would  prevent  some  of  them  when  liberated 
from  relapsing  into  habits  of  crime.  From  a  wide 
experience  of  juveniles  who  have  failed  after  being 
dealt  with  in  correctional  establishments  I  feel  sure 
that  one  of  the  causes  of  failure  is  the  want  of 
sufficient  individualisation  during  the  period  of  deten- 
tion, and  this  want  has  the  most  disastrous  results  in 
the  case  of  juveniles  who  are  somewhat  anomalous  in 
physical  or  mental  constitution. 

The  classification  and  individualisation  of  juveniles 
in  corrective  establishments  in  accordance  with 
definite  and  intelligible  principles  would  immensely 
facilitate  the  task  of  conditional  liberation.  It  has 
already  been  mentioned  that  juveniles  committed 
to  industrial  or  reformatory  schools  may  be  liberated 
conditionally,  or  on  licence,  as  it  is  technically  called, 
long  before  the  full  term  of  detention  has  expired. 
Juveniles  liberated  in  this  manner  are  committed  to 
the  care  of  some  trustworthy  person,  either  in  this 
country  or  the  colonies,  who  is  willing  to  take 
charge  of  them.  The  power  of  licensing  a  juvenile 
offender  may  be  exercised  at  the  expiration  of  twelve 
or  eighteen  months'  detention,  but  it  is  seldom  re- 
sorted to  at  such  an  early  period.  It  is  contended 
that  children  who  are  let  out  of  corrective  institutions 
at  the  end  of  comparatively  short  periods  of  detention 
relapse  in  greater  numbers  than  children  who  have 
been  subjected  to  the  discipline  of  these  institutions 
for    a    greater    length    of    time.      In    the   Quartier 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  313 

Correctionnel  at  Lj^ons  it  was  found  that  juveniles 
liberated  in  less  than  a  twelvemonth  after  admission 
exhibited  a  higher  percentage  of  failures  than  juveniles 
detained  for  longer  periods. 

Whilst  liberation  after  a  brief  detention  is  prob- 
ably a  mistake  it  must,  on  the  other  hand,  be 
pointed  out  that  it  is  possible  to  go  to  an  extreme 
in  the  contrary  direction,  and  to  make  too  little 
use  of  conditional  liberation.  This  appears  to  be 
the  danger  in  England  at  the  present  time.  Accord- 
ing to  the  returns  the  vast  majority  of  juveniles 
in  reformatory  and  industrial  schools  are  detained 
between  three  and  four  years  before  being  released 
on  licence  for  the  first  time.  In  some  of  the  industrial 
schools  the  children  are  detained  for  five,  six,  or  even 
seven  years.  It  is  said  that  one  reason  why  juveniles 
are  kept  away  from  the  ordinary  realities  of  social 
life  for  such  prolonged  periods  is  the  difficulty  of 
procuring  suitable  people  to  take  charge  of  them. 
The  labour  which  these  juveniles  are  able  to  give 
in  exchange  for  their  maintenance  is  not  enough  to 
remunerate  (in  this  country  at  least)  the  persons  who 
would  offer  them  a  home.  Even  with  the  addition 
of  a  small  sum  from  the  institutions  from  which  they 
are  conditionally  released,  the  task  of  keeping  them 
is  said  to  be  an  unremunerative  one.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances the  only  people  willing  to  receive  such 
children  are  their  parents,  and  the  parents  are  in 
many  cases  the  last  people  into  whose  hands  they 
should  be  placed.  These  are  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
licensing  children  at  a  comparatively  early  date  which 
deserve  consideration  and  must  not  be  overlooked. 


SH  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS. 

At  the  same  time  the  principle  of  Hberation  before 
the  full  sentence  of  detention  has  expired  is  such  a 
sound  one  that  every  effort  should  be  made  to  over- 
come the  practical  obstacles  which  at  present  stand 
in  the  way  of  its  application. 

In  connection  with  the  release,  whether  conditional 
or  absolute,  of  juvenile  offenders  there  are  certain 
general  principles  which  it  is  always  well  to  bear  in 
mind.  Juveniles  whose  conduct  has  been  indifferent 
during  detention  cannot  be  liberated  with  safety 
until  a  considerable  portion  of  their  sentence  has 
expired.  At  the  same  time  it  does  not  always  follow 
that  a  juvenile  whose  career  in  a  correctional  establish- 
ment has  not  been  altogether  exemplary  should  be 
set  down  beforehand  as  necessarily  doomed  to  failure 
when  he  re-enters  the  world.  In  cases  where  in- 
dividuality is  strongly  marked,  and  also  in  cases 
where  developing  faculties  are  late  in  acquiring 
equilibrium,  it  is  found  that  juveniles  succeed  in 
actual  life  who  have  been  more  or  less  failures  in 
institution  life.  Although  this  is  often  exemplified 
in  experience,  the  only  safe  principle  to  act  upon  in 
connection  with  the  conditional  liberation  of  refractory 
inmates  is  to  detain  them  for  longer  periods  in  the 
hope  that  the  nearer  approach  of  maturity  will  be 
accompanied  by  a  greater  measure  of  mental  and 
moral  equilibrium. 

Another  principle  to  be  recognised  in  connection 
with  conditional  liberation  is  that  juveniles  convicted 
of  offences  against  the  person  are  more  likely  to  do 
well  in  after-life  than  juveniles  charged  with  vaga- 
bondage and  offences  against  property.     Juveniles  of 


CORRECTIVE   INSTITUTIONS.  315 

the  former  class  may  accordingly  he  conditionally  libe- 
rated sooner  than  juveniles  of  the  latter.  There  are 
fewer  relapses  among  children  whose  antecedents  are 
good,  and  among  children  whose  homes  are  good, 
than  among  children  more  unhappily  circumstanced  in 
these  respects.  Consideration  should  be  given  to  these 
facts  in  deciding  at  what  period  a  juvenile  should  be 
conditionally  liberated.  It  is  also  to  be  recollected 
that  cliildren  sent  to  the  country  when  conditionally 
liberated  are  more  likely  to  do  well  than  children 
sent  to  the  towns.  The  destination  of  the  liberated 
juvenile  is  a  consideration  to  which  the  very  greatest 
weight  must  be  attached,  and  juveniles  destined  to 
return  to  the  temptations  of  city  life  cannot  be 
liberated  at  such  an  early  date  as  those  whose 
characters  will  not  be  subjected  to  so  severe  a 
strain. 

When  conditional  liberation  takes  place  the  juvenile 
offender,  though  differing  in  age,  is  in  a  somewhat 
similar  position  to  the  poor-law  child  who  is 
boarded  out.  His  future  depends  to  a  considerable 
extent  on  the  character  of  the  person  into  whose 
custody  he  is  entrusted.  In  the  first  volume  of  the 
American  Journal  of  Sociology  Mr.  C.  D.  Randall 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  measures  taken 
in  the  state  of  Michigan  for  securing  proper  homes 
for  juvenile  offenders  after  liberation.  All  delinquent 
and  dependent  children  are  under  the  charge  of  a 
State  Board  of  Corrections  and  Charities.  This 
board  has  agents  in  every  county,  and  their  duties 
relate  to  both  dependent  and  delinquent  children. 
"The   agents,"   says  Mr.  Randall,   "all  inspect   and 


3  1(3  JUVENILE    OFFENDERS. 

report  on  all  proposed  homes  for  dependent  or 
delinquent  children,  and  none  of  either  class  are 
placed  in  families  by  indenture  or  adoption  unless 
the  agent  approves.  And  when  he  finds  after 
indenture  that  the  home  is  not  adapted  to  the  child, 
or  that  the  child  is  ill-treated,  it  is  his  duty  to  report 
the  case  at  any  time  to  the  school  which  placed  the 
child.  The  county  agency  is  very  necessary  to  a  well- 
ordered  system.  The  applicant  for  the  child  lives 
in  the  county  of  the  agent.  He  can  readily  learn 
whether  the  home  is  suitable,  and  when  the  child  is 
placed  he  soon  hears  if  it  is  not  well-treated.  He 
is  where  he  can  see  and  learn  all,  and  protect  the 
child,  and  guard  its  every  interest.  The  agency  is 
not  expensive.  It  is  largely  a  labour  of  love  and 
self-sacrifice  when  the  duties  are  well  discharged." 

If  the  care  of  dependent  and  delinquent  children 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  County  Councils 
in  England  under  the  supreme  supervision  of  the 
Education  Department  a  system  such  as  prevails  in 
Michigan,  and  which  Mr.  Randall  says  works  so  well 
there,  would  be  of  immense  assistance  in  the  placing 
out  of  juveniles  on  conditional  liberation.  The 
managers  and  heads  of  corrective  establishments  do 
their  best  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  juveniles  who 
have  left  their  hands,  but  the  task  under  existing 
circumstances  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  one.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  a  more  efficient  system  of 
"  after  care  "  would  materially  minimise  the  risks  at 
present  connected  with  conditional  liberation.  Too 
much  credit  cannot  be  attached  to  the  statements  of 
juveniles  who  find  their  way  into  prison  after  passing 


CORRECTIVE  INSTITUTIONS.  317 

through  industrial  and  reformatory  schools.  But 
careful  examination  of  many  cases  of  this  unfortunate 
description  convinces  me  that  the  good  effect  of  the 
schools  is  sometimes  obliterated  by  the  bad  effect  of 
an  unsuitable  home  or  situation  after  discharge.  It 
is  certain  that  the  percentage  of  failures  would  con- 
siderably diminish  if  it  were  possible  to  bestow  more 
attention  on  juveniles  when  they  leave  correctional 
establishments.  It  is  during  the  first  two  years  that 
the  risk  of  failure  is  greatest,  and  the  utmost  pains 
should  be  taken  to  enable  a  youth  to  retain  his 
balance  during  this  perilous  and  trying  period. 


THE    END. 


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